Hysteria Goddess
by Mizu Misaki
Summary: A slave of Sentorappu, the most notorious slave trading island of the Grand Line, is saved by the Straw Hat Pirates and granted the power of a Devil Fruit. Young and exposed to the horrors of mankind, Misaki is traumatized to the point where she doesn't realize her true potential. But through the help and support of her friends, she will change the world. Rated T for language
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

* * *

 _Fern Island_

* * *

Rain pattered through the open windows of a broken down shack. It was sloppily painted a dirty white color, and a worn out sign with a red cross roughly described the pathetic looking building as the hospital.

There were lilies surrounding the building, many of their petals strewn all over the muddy ground, as if they'd been trampled. The remaining bits of flowers were drooping down because of the downpour, and droplets magnetically dropped from the petals that were still attached to the stem, to the floor, making the tiniest of splashes.

It was around midnight when you could hear the footsteps of a rushed man bounding up to the entrance of the shack, panting heavily and carrying his wife bridal style. Blood dripped from the man's face and was soaked through the thin fabric of his clothes. The woman also seemed disgruntled, but also in so much more pain than her supposed husband. A protruding bump on her belly insinuated that she, unfortunately, was going through labor.

At the moment they arrived at the door of the puny excuse of a hospital, the man tripped on some weeds and fell to the floor, but not before he moved his body in a way that his wife would fall on top of him, rather than having to suffer his weight. Finding no energy to spare, he found himself tired and pained to the bone, fainting on the spot and splashing his body with sloppy mud.

The man's wife was screeching, tears pouring out of her face.

She was going through labor, and she was certain the baby was going to be out any second.

"Help! Help! Help me!" She slammed her fists into the door until she felt like her wrists would snap off. The door opened a few seconds later following the hurried steps of the doctor, an disheveled old man with white hair and circle-framed glasses. His white coat was stained with the various fluids of previous patients and mishaps.

"Are you in labor?" He asked.

"Yes- please help me! Help my baby! Help my husband, too- I'm begging you!" She pleaded through wet eyes, the humid rain dropping onto her face like hail.

"Of course. Lucy!" He called for a blond nurse, a young woman who helped the pregnant woman limp through into a room where they would be given the most privacy you could get in the shack.

The doctor crouched down at the outside of the entrance, putting two fingers on the husband's hand.

There was no sound, where the pulse should have been.

He sighed in disappointment, but there was no time for grieving when he heard the woman beside him screaming in agonizing pain.

You know how sometimes, you can be at the wrong place at the wrong time?

This was much worse.

The man's wife was in the most terrible situation, in a hospital in the most horrible condition, and the timing was extremely unlucky, as well. At the moment, unfortunately, a group of well known, infamous Celestial Dragons that ruled over a neighboring island were roaming around that specific part of Fern Island, looking for something.

"Breathe, Miss. Breathe." Lucy encouraged the older lady, who in response, tried her best to stay conscious and deal with the unbearable pain.

"The… The father?" Lucy had asked.

"Dead," He answered grimly. Lucy lowered her head, but she knew that it was no time to mourn.

"Dead!?" The soon-to-be mother brought her head up rapidly, her eyes widening in shock.

"Doctor!" Lucy snapped herself back to reality, and the doctor next to her seemed to do the same.

"My sincerest apologies, I must not have been thinking straight," He muttered solemnly, and the woman let loose a wave of tears and cries for her husband.

"Alright, keep her steady." The doctor ordered the young nurse and prepared the patient for the birth of her baby.

"Miss, you can do it," The woman strained to hear, see, or feel anything. She just kept her hands clenched tightly on the iron bars of the rickety bed.

"Aaaahhh!" After that blood-curdling scream, their fates would be under the mercy of the Celestial Dragons.

"Breathe," Lucy was now begging. She didn't want to have the baby or the wife become injured, or worse.

"Alright, the baby's head is almost out,"

The woman was pale, breathing in unsteady intervals. The doctor was raging to get the baby out. He knew that this lady was in no condition to be giving birth at the moment. He only prayed that the baby would be alright.

"Before I die…"

"You won't die, Miss." The nurse reassured her, but who was she kidding? The birth was dangerous for the child- only god knew what road the mother and child would be taking.

" _Before I die_ ," The woman whispered aggressively, as if she already knew that she would pass away for some strange reason (the conviction in her voice was scary to hear for both the doctor and nurse), "I'd like to name my child…" Her voice lacked its usual power, as it was raspy and muffled by tears she was holding back. The woman was in so much pain, and yet, she had room in her dignified and strong-willed heart to stand by her beliefs and wishes.

"Miss, did you have any other children?" Lucy asked, trying to calm the patient down, lowering her heart rate.

"...I… I had a… a...son… years ago- Ahhhh!" She yelped as the baby was coming out. Her insides were being flipped all around and her headache wasn't helping her out much, either.

"Hold her for three more seconds, and it'll all be over." The doctor instructed the blond as she nodded. "Three more seconds, Miss."

"Mi…"

Funny, those three seconds seemed to last for an eternity for the doctor, the nurse, and the woman giving birth. The background composed of the scraped up walls and feeble attempts to make the hospital shack look more homey and comfortable, all seemed to dissipate and was replaced with white space for just the woman in her final moments on earth.

"Mi… Saki..."

The first cries of the newborn were heard, and everything was still.

"It's out." The doctor said quietly.

The rain stopped.

It wasn't even a gradual halt.

It happened too suddenly for it to be natural.

The clouds were cleared, and you could see a bright moon in all its glory, illuminating the ocean waves pounding softly against the rocks and the cliff. The stars sparkled, shining down the light onto the weeping grass and plants. The natural, white color of the lilies flourished outside of the hospital, and the tints of the pathetic place were not professional, but gave a picture of natural comfort, in a way, with the hidden bits of real wood peeking out from the peeling paint and the imperfect construction of the building.

The rain seemed to have permanently left the island. Sure, there were clouds in the sky, but they were puffy, white clouds that one could imagine in a fairytale, or a dream.

The nature through the lens of the hospital windows- which were fastened shut by nuts and bolts in an effort to keep out bugs and unwanted wind- was fantastical, showing a completely different aspect as to one that was seen only minutes ago, when there were dark skies and a pretty heavy rainstorm. Along with the sky, the ocean, from the window's view, was sparkling, like soda. The marks and stains of weathering on said windows only made the scenery more beautiful and realistic, in a way, and brought together a wonderful landscape.

However, the doctor and the nurse were obviously too occupied to notice any changes in the environment surrounding them.

"Finally… That lasted longer than it should have…" Lucy wiped her forehead with her clammy palms. "Miss? Do you want to see your baby?"  
The doctor was silent as he held the baby close.

"Miss?" Lucy looked at the silent woman.

Almost like an eerie portrait, the woman's body was contorted and her eyes were glassy, like a doll's. It was at this moment where the doctor could see a beauty in the corpse of a woman, slowly fading away for some reason.

"She… She's dead?" The blond turned to look at the doctor, then back at the woman.

The doctor nodded solemnly. He upturned his glasses and swiftly started cleaning up the blood on the table with a nearby rag. "Time of birth of child and death of mother, three-fifty-two. It was unavoidable."

"B-But... But why?" Lucy backed away from the corpse, trying to force her eyes to gaze at something other than the soulless eyes of that woman.

"She was unhealthy to begin with, and the time of giving birth was spanning for too long. I didn't even expect the baby to live. Lucy, you should have been preparing for the worst,"

"This… This is terrible! What… What about the baby!?"

They heard a bubbly cry, coming from the tiny human. The cry was a vivid voice that rang through the two people's ears like a soothing charm or a melody. Taking a better look at it, the baby was obviously a female child, with such cute pink skin after being cleaned up, and amazing brown eyes. Her bald head was already sprouting hairs of a blueish color, which wasn't a surprise. The father was blue haired, as the doctor had caught a glimpse of the dead man outside and his outer features.

"What a beautiful newborn," Lucy marveled at nature's creation, but immediately recognized the current situation and walked over to where the doctor was, frowning and cradling the baby in an effort to calm her down. "What will happen to her?"

The doctor rubbed his temple in deep thought.

"I don't know." He said finally. "I have my family, as well. We've never taken in any orphans, or any children _at all_ , for that matter. But we can't just throw her to the streets. She's still a baby."

"I suppose I could keep her with me and Mother for a while. It would be no trouble, if it were only for a few weeks, maybe. Then, we can send her off somewhere else."

"Tragic, a young girl without parents. An orphan right after her death." The doctor said. "For now, we must keep her safe. The couple was running from something, and the husband died not only due to exhaustion, probably. Being on this island means that they're in danger,"

"Because of the… the neighboring island…" The blond haired girl murmured. "Sento-"

But before she could finish her sentence, there was an abrupt knock at the door. "Come out, little piglets! Come out!" The voice was harsh and it was dripping of falseness.

The young lady felt her face twist in fear. "Who is that?"

"He doesn't sound injured…" The man muttered, rushing over to the back entrance. Lucy followed, the baby in her arms.

"Go. Take the baby." The doctor commanded, and the young woman didn't argue. But she did ask one thing, "But what about you…?"

"I'll be fine. Go, now!"

Lucy nodded and sped into the thick trees and the dense forest. 'The village is only a few minutes away. The village is only a few minutes away,' She repeated on and on in her head, trying to keep herself calm, and trying her best to make as little noise as possible.

She heard a snapping noise of branches and twigs right behind her.

The blond quickened her pace a lot more, feeling the baby howl underneath her shawl.

"Shh, shhh." Lucy was panicking, desperate to calm the baby down.

"Waaahhhh! Waahhhhh~!" The baby was yowling. She didn't know what to do. The people were coming closer.

Closer.

Until-

"Don't move." A man wearing a sharp, black tuxedo and dark glasses pointed a gun to Lucy's head. She flinched, keeping a firm grip on the baby.

"What's this?" Another person strolled through the thick forest, wearing a clean, white suit and a clear globe around his head. He looked almost like an astronaut.

'A Celestial Dragon!? What is he doing here?' The blond gulped, averting her eyes from the two men.

This particular Celestial Dragon wasn't like others. Instead of being fat, ugly, and extremely dependent, he seemed as if he was a decent citizen. Good-looking and seemingly intelligent, even. However, it was Lucy's mistake when she lowered her guard the slightest bit.

"Shoot her. She has what I want." The Celestial Dragon commanded at the man in the suit. He obliged, preparing the gun.

"What? No! I have nothing!" Lucy shouted, and the Celestial Dragon snickered.

"What's that under your shawl, then?"

She jumped, but didn't dare pull the poor baby out. She couldn't hear any more cries. It seemed as if the baby knew what was going on.

"Nothing."

"Liar." The Celestial Dragon dragged on. "As I looked at your face, I could tell you were a liar." He clicked his tongue. "This is what you become if you are poor, and it's disgusting. You probably wished you were as intelligent and high like me. Now, give me what you have."

"...What did you do to Doctor Samuel?"

The Celestial Dragon's thin line of a mouth formed into a small smile that sent chills down Lucy's spine.

'So this is what makes him inhuman.'

"Shoot her now!"

The nurse dropped on her knees, trying to protect the baby under her clothes as best as possible. "Please spare us."

"Us? So you admit the baby is tucked away in your shawl." The man in the suit clarified, and turned to the Celestial Dragon. "Shall we take them under custody?"

"Kill the woman and take the baby."

Lucy's eyes widened as the gun was triggered. She heard white noise, and then everything went black.

"Ah, well. That's that." The Celestial Dragon walked over to Lucy's body and dragged out the baby, who was covered in the woman's blood. Surprisingly, the infant wasn't touched by the bullet, even though the fatal wound was surprisingly close to where the baby was hidden, so one could only assume that the killer was a professional sharpshooter.

"So, she is the destined one?"

"Yes. We have one with us already, and all we need are the other three."

"Shut up, I already know that."

"Apologies, my Lord." He bowed profusely and left the corpse to rot in the middle of the woods.

And they walked out of the forest while the baby was still silent. She woke up in the middle of the forest, looked around, and howled.

The rain started falling again.

"Crap, she's going to bring in a storm." The Celestial Dragon took out a Den Den Mushi and it rang loudly. "Ah, Maachan? Can you bring in one of your horses?"

The rain suddenly stopped, and a group of blood red horses dragging a black, sleek carriage appeared from the clouds. They whinnied, urging the three people to get on.

"Hold her." He tossed the baby carelessly to the man in the black suit.

Then, they sped away into the light, as the sky was clearing up.

But the baby wouldn't stop crying.

* * *

 **Edited November 30th, 2019 (happy thanksgiving hoes)**


	2. Chapter 2: An Insight On Sentorappu

**Chapter 2: An Insight On Sentorappu**

* * *

 **Okay so you don't really have to read this chapter, but I think it's pretty helpful to understand the circumstances of the slave island I write about :))**

* * *

Sentorappu Island was different from all the others that existed. It was a slaveholding island, where there was an exchange of many human beings, as if it was an underground market. However, there was a main household, or rather, a building, in the center of the island, where Celestial Dragons would come and go to see the new experiments and amusing entertainment presented to them: the slaves.

You see, there were multiple doctors and Celestial Dragons who wanted to see the limits, and also the ability, of human beings. The Celestial Dragons who actually owned the building were very smart people. They were well known in the entire Grand Line as some of the greatest Celestial Dragons alive. They were treated like gods, even from other Celestial Dragons' perspectives.

The main family of Sentorappu Island could be considered one of the richest families in the entire world. Maybe not deserving of the title of the richest, but surely, in the top ten. The Gratius Family, a strong family that built their island on beliefs passed down from generation to generation with the assumed purpose of making the lives of unfortunate human beings complete shit shows.

The worst thing about Sentorappu Island's slave aspect was its events, no doubt. A lot of times, slaves would be forced to partake in different types of events where they would put on a show for Celestial Dragons who would come and marvel at the different things they would do. These events usually consisted of disgusting, immoral, inhuman acts that a regular human would gag at. But more of that is explained later.

Instead of trading slaves, or bringing more in by a mass amount at a time, there was something quite peculiar about this mansion. There was something highly strange going on hidden in the place, where new creations, such as extremely weird animals, or mutations of humans and even artificial Devil Fruits, were created. There was a fucked up system in the Sentorappu building, as well.

Slaves were not normal there.

For slaves, it was either a dream or a blood curdling nightmare to be in that place. You might be asking, how was this possible?

Ranks.

Ranks were given out to every slave in this particular island. For children, or fourteen year olds and down, there were three basic ranks.

High class.

They were pampered, treated like pets. Extremely good-looking, intelligent, strong… all the good qualities a Noble liked in a human being. High class slaves were almost treated as if they were the friends of some younger Celestial Dragons, and were normally rewarded with gifts and delicacies from all around the world. They were almost normal human beings, but they were only like this because they were the most treasured slaves. Those teenagers were probably part of the high class. They were extremely smart and talented, in one way or many different ways.

Remember the "events" mentioned previously? Yes, high class slaves actually were provided the choice if they wanted to participate in the events or not. Many of them would say yes because they wouldn't really be affected or hurt. Actually, these events were more beneficial to them. Usually, they would just demonstrate their abilities to the Celestial Dragons, just to show that some humans were incredible like them. Nobles would cheer and clap for them, but that was all. Nothing bad happened to these slaves.

All was well in the high class population. The problem was when they grew. As they became older, they were either turning into fine, well-groomed slaves, or they would start to act up. Be more rebellious. Children like that would either be killed if they did anything too reckless, in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, or if they seemed too dangerous- again, in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons.

Middle class.

They lived in large barracks which were connected to the main slave house. They had actual beds, and received three meals a day. But they were still commanded to do certain things, and Misaki would later find out that they were basically, brutes. The strong ones, who were the slave military for the Celestial Dragons. However, the middle class slaves were not tormented as much as regular, lowly slaves, and were actually quite respected by some Celestial Dragons who weren't so twisted in the head. They would continue being shields for the Nobles until they died, or moved up a class. The one thing that established high class and middle class from being normal people was the silver loop around their necks, suffocating their ability to breathe, although more mentally than physically. Most middle class children participated in tournaments, but the number of participants was decreasing, because there was the chilling fact that only one would make it out alive and a _certain someone_ was preventing this one survivor to be anyone but her (You can already guess who it is). And so some middle class members were drafted into these tournament-type events.

To sum up, the slaves in the middle class were literally just cannon fodder.

And, of course, low class.

Torture and the most experimenting went to the low class, and since neither the nobles nor the upper class did work like rebuilding parts of the island, acting as prostitutes, or being stools for the Celestial Dragons, these "chores" were all handed down to the lowest class. These children would see the least sunlight, would most likely never leave the island, unless they were escaping or being shipped away, and would die the fastest. Usually, slaves in this area would be working on iron products which was for a company that was linked to the Sentorappu Island slave business, where pots, pans, and other home necessities were made. This was one main industry, along with a small portion of slaves from the lower class who were plucked out of the group to run experiments on.

Most never came back to the room.

During a low class slave's day, you might be drafted into the battles the Nobles had every morning for "entertainment," as they called it. It was really a bloodbath to determine the last one standing. If anyone was breathing except for that last person, he or she would be put to death and the winner would be rewarded some money, which would usually go to more rations. If you were in desperate need for more rations, you could volunteer yourself to fight in the battles.

After the battle, you would trudge along, doing your daily "chores," which would be gruesome work, lifting heavy objects and relocating them, or performing other inhumane tasks. If you failed to do _one_ thing perfectly, you would be punished through torture methods.

Sometimes, a few selected slaves would be tortured until sheer exhaustion or death, just for the fun of it.

It was awful and sick.

This would last for the entire day until night time, where everyone was sent back to the slave quarters, which was basically a room with a bunch of cages crowded together so it looked like an indoor zoo.

When they grew up, most of the low and middle class would continue on serving the Celestial Dragons as either personal entertainers, servants, or construction workers. With the high class, these newly formed adults would only be used to being pampered and treated almost like royalty as they entered into becoming an actual adult. However, most of them would become prostitutes, and if they were lucky, some of them would be granted the mercy of turning into escorts, consorts for the Nobles, or just companions, if a Celestial Dragon took interest in a particular high class slave. And as for the high class slaves who were really outstanding, obedient, and just had all the qualities that Celestial Dragons liked in a human, they could be potential spouses- definitely not first wives or husbands, though- to some of the Nobles. It wasn't likely, but it happened occasionally.

No slave was freed, under any circumstances.

Now, Sentorappu Island's central building was a large one, protected with iron walls and strange protective objects and warriors everywhere to keep it unavailable to anyone who tried to break in. The main three sections were split in one segment of the building which took up one third of the place. The highest floor was where Celestial Dragons and the high class slaves roamed. The second floor was where more Celestial Dragons stayed.

The ground floor was for all the rowdy slaves, the middle class. In fact, the Nobles were getting tired of some of the slaves' chanting and wild behavior and decided to separate some of them into a warehouse nearby the building, where they had a better time than most (until the next time they were called out to protect the Nobles, that was). Clearly, the most populated children's' group was the middle class. Actually, a lot of middle class slaves were good friends with high class slaves, and they had good times together, for the most part.

And then, three floors down, was the lowest class. They were put, or rather, cramped, in the basement. Slaves would be stuffed into that place, which also had horrid living and sanitary conditions, and quickly killed off human beings there as fast as replacing them. Most of the slaves who were sent there were normal people living normal lives, only to have the misfortune of being kidnapped from their own homes by people associated with an illegal underground slave trade, where anyone could become a slave, even if they weren't a criminal or being auctioned off.

You see, the iron businesses Sentorappu worked with did not know of the low class's existence, although they wouldn't care either way. However, the Celestial Dragons felt that it was best to keep the low class out of sight, and for the most part, leave all the work assigning for the low class to the scientists and torturers.

In a way, _these_ Celestial Dragons almost recognized themselves as human. They acknowledged the fact that they were not gods sent from up above, and they knew that the low class was the same species as themselves.

But the main goal of all the Nobles of Sentorappu was actually to make all the other Nobles of the Grand Line to realize that they were all humans, as well.

And in reality, since they were so far from being holy beings, they all needed to be converted into gods.

And that was why the building, the experiments, the different classes of slaves, were created. It was still, in the end, all for the Celestial Dragons.

But also, the Celestial Dragons were keeping the high and middle class for a reason. They pitied the low class, but they couldn't just get rid of it. So, they tried to forget their guilt and the fact that they were entrapping thousands of innocent children every year, just to suffer and work until they passed away, usually in a painful way and treated terribly even after death- Sentorappu Island usually just burned the dead bodies and dump the surplus amount of ash into the ocean surrounding them.

Of course, the system that they ran in Sentorappu was just as terrifying as the other slave owning functions, but Sentorappu was definitely different and distinguished themselves in a rather disgusting and disturbing way. Anyone could tell that they weren't really human- they were all just monsters.

But the Sentorappu Island industry was about to change the course of its history history permanently, as it was the first to be crushed by the hands of a single girl who would then proceed to destroy the entirety of slavery in the Grandline- no, in the world- by freeing the children of the corrupt islands and psychotic Nobles, one island to the next.

* * *

 **Edited May 17th, 2019**


	3. Chapter 3: Born A Slave

**Chapter 3: Born A Slave**

* * *

 _Sentorappu Island_

* * *

"Misaki."

"Huh?"

The little girl was only four years old, and at the moment, she was unsure of what was going on. She was sobbing uncontrollably and looked up at the confused slave keeper. Her fierce eyes eradicated any previous weakness she'd shown before them, and sent a chill running down the guard's spine.

"My name is Misaki."

* * *

 _9 years later_

* * *

It was a very hot, bright morning with the beaming sun radiating down on the lower grounds, slivers of the shine even escaping to the shadiest areas of the world.

Sentorappu Island, a popular trading island, also featured and dedicated half its land for the mighty Celestial Dragons who converted this land into a hell house filled with an entire system of economic classes- even if slaves were involved.

Heavy clashing sounds of armor beating against armor resonated throughout the coliseum. Three Celestial Dragons, surprisingly all in good shape and considerably attractive, were seated at the protected balcony, watching over an indoors battle arena. Another thing- they were wearing royal robes and gowns, but the normal globes around most Nobles' heads and protective suits were nowhere to be seen.

Sitting on the chair in the middle was an old man with a short beard and thin eyes. He looked wise and quiet, but there was something sinister about those small eyes of his. And the chairs on both of his sides were two young children- one girl and one boy. The boy had raven hair and yellow eyes that made him look like a crow as he watched the gladiator battle in front of him with such amusement, and yet, he seemed to be analyzing it in such a scrutinizing way. The younger girl had strikingly purple hair with emerald green eyes, her cheeks pale and colored with the hot wind of the day. She didn't hold the same intelligence as the two males next to her, but she shared similar characteristics as the two of them, as she observed the game like a scanner, a small smile on her face.

"How is the entertainment today, Father?" The female Celestial Dragon looked up at the gray haired man, who turned to face her and smiled.

"It's wonderful. They are truly fighting with such vigor and swiftness that it's hard to believe that many of them have not been professionally trained." The old man snorted at his own words and switched his gaze back to the stadium below him.

"Well, of course. They're fighting for their lives." The female Celestial Dragon rubbed the globe around her face.

Down at the battle arena, there were at least fifty people, all well built with armor or regular clothes on, equipped with swords and other brutal looking weapons. They were all fighting against each other, and already thirty of them were on the ground, dead.

A giant-like man fell with a loud thud, thanks to three cuts deep into his chest, and he stopped breathing after a few seconds. The Celestial Dragons were impressed. That man was the tallest and largest out of anyone in the arena. The oldest Celestial dragon flinched, but said nothing else.

"Who in the world did _that_!?"

The fight continued. Women and men attacked each other mercilessly, ripping each other apart just to stay alive for just one more second.

When it was just down to one person, the Celestial Dragons were all up their seat and grabbing the iron railing to see who it was.

"Oooh, I wonder if it's a girl or boy!" The girl piped up.

"I wonder if it's the one who killed that giant," The father of the two remarked with a deep voice.

"It's probably going to be the _same_ person." The son, Rekatsu, said, much to their annoyance.

"Shut up, shut up! You'll ruin the tension!" The daughter pounded her firsts onto the arms of her comfortable chair. Before all the dead contestants were removed from the coliseum, a silhouette of the winner of the fight stood before the audience, receiving a handful of cheering, and then walked away (badass style, as quoted from Rekatsu).

And sure enough, in the sky, a blue light was projected before the audience, flashing the words:

 _Winner: Misaki_

"AHHHH! It's always _her_!" The father and daughter whined together while throwing a mini tantrum in their seats.

"Well, what did you expect? You guys probably put her in most of the battles you create for the slaves on purpose, and yet she ends up winning all of them." The Celestial Dragon muttered. "She has inhuman strength."

"No, we don't!" The father and sister shrieked in harmony.

"I never enter Misaki into these fights. She enters herself, to get the prize," The father continued. "The rations, the rations. She has no reason in her. I offer her rations, and instead, she marches towards this death match."

"How stupid of her. Does she _really_ have that much confidence in herself?" The girl asked, flopping into her chair.

"Well, she's won about every single game she's entered for about three years now." Rekatsu hummed.

"I have never seen her! And I'm interested, since she's the same gender as me." The daughter exclaimed happily. "Father, can I meet her? Maybe I can raise her rank! Didn't you say that she was in the low class? That's interesting, since she's such a wonderful fighter."

A wind of silence came over the three Nobles, and the daughter cocked an eyebrow. "...Maybe you hadn't heard me properly. Father, I asked if I-"

"No!" The father snapped, and the girl looked at him, scared and curious. "You can never, ever meet her."

"But _whyyyyy_!?" She shrieked, as if it were a demand and not a question, begging for more information.

The father of the two already had met Misaki. She was a fierce, cold-hearted girl with this amazing navy blue hair. She had a presence… an aura that could even break apart the silly masks that all the Celestial Dragons wore. Yet, she was only the estimated age of thirteen. She was incredible, even though they had tried everything to break her mentally, physically, and even emotionally.

"She's different... to the point where just meeting her will send shivers down your spine. She acts like a queen, but in reality, she is one." The man spoke calmly, as if reciting a poem he'd practiced nightly.

"...But…" She began with a pout. "...BUT WHY DOES MY BROTHER GET TO SEE HER!? AND HE GOES TO MEET HER _EVERY SINGLE_ _DAY_!" She stomped around in her chair like a child. The oldest Celestial Dragon was worried that it would actually break at this point, comically sweat dropping while staring at his daughter.

"That's because your big brother proved that he was mature enough." Her brother, _Lord_ Rekatsu, teased while reaching out across his father to squeeze her cheek. "And besides, you wouldn't like meeting her."

"Why not?" The girl made her lips drown.

"Because you get jealous of other girls really easily." He gave her a sly smile. "And if you ever saw her, you'd want to kill her."

* * *

Thirteen, long years.

Thirteen years stuck in a mansion in the torture chamber, in a testing room, in a room where everyone else there made you feel like you were an outsider, or an insect.

Seeing hundreds of people die right before your eyes.

Killing people.

People you knew.

This was Misaki's life. But in order to really understand, you'd have to experience. There wasn't a way to put the evil things done on this island in words.

And now…

"Hey, lil' bitch. Get us our drinks." Some workers in the torture chambers were sitting down on the wooden tables, clearly drunk from their previous sets of alcohol. Misaki could tell since they were slurring most of their words. They made irritating faces meant for the navy blue haired girl, and Misaki sighed. She felt one of them slapping her right thigh as she walked past them into the drink room. She was wearing a worn out white dress with rips and holes. Her hair was a mess, which was the least of her concerns at the present time.

Getting into the kitchen, she took a barrel of beer in one hand and another in the other hand and took them to the torturers. Bell and Quo.

Sentorappu Island. An Island ruled by power hungry psychopaths, but mainly, a single family composed of the central ruler, Gratius Hakotsu, his two children, and a few of his relatives. The Gratius Family. And everyone else living in Sentorappu had the pleasure of serving them.

"Hey, hey, hey! Tonight, we should party!" Quo shouted to Bell, who smirked.

"That dumbass boss of ours won't even notice. He's too occupied with all these slaves." Bell agreed. "Yeah, let's invite the guys who just started working here."

The navy blue haired girl had been in the mansion for thirteen years… her entire life.

She knew everyone there. She knew every resident, slave, Celestial Dragon, regular, torturer, doctor, etcetera.

"What kind of shit beer is this?" Bell spit out the drink he had almost swallowed. Misaki shrugged. "It was in a barrel. It's kind of like you. Tasteless and bitter."

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that," Bell muttered, lapping at his cracked lips. "I'm not in the mood to hit a pretty girl like you,"

Not as bad as the insults she received, but still enough to get a normal slave killed. But Misaki was different. She could insult away and not get killed because she was different. Still, she was treated harshly and tortured daily, maybe a bit less than the other children, but just enough to break her down. To the point where she had little hope and faith.

But she normally didn't do physical labor because she was, apparently, too attractive to be doing any manual work. Misaki seemed too delicate to even do anything, so she had always believed that the torturers and slaveholders just expected her to sit around and look pretty until someone gave her an order. The other slaves had assigned work to do the moment they stepped foot into the lower class basement. The reason why Misaki wasn't given away to sell her body or something like that was because this was a special order not to do so from the grand master himself. Hooray.

Kids around Misaki joked about it all the time, about how the latter was so beautiful in every which way that not even the emperor of the world would be able to find a flaw on her. They'd say things like, "The only thing dirty about Misaki is her past," or, "I wish I can be reborn to someone as pretty as Misaki!"

But it hurt Misaki, since she knew that on the inside, all those kids were either dull, or extremely jealous of the gap between the two of them. She would sometimes be approached by slaves her same age and get teased and mocked for this treatment.

"Hey, why aren't you in high class if you're not gonna do any of the work?" They would ask her. It didn't happen too frequently, since most of those kids slaved around for most of the day and dropped to sleep at night.

Misaki couldn't answer. She didn't know. She didn't understand what anyone saw about her that was so beautiful, and she didn't know why she was treated differently.

So for most of the time, she would be in the children's working quarters, looking around to defend the enslaved kids or to serve slave keepers who ordered her to. Or she would be in a fighting tournament, something that the slave owners were highly against.

The reason why Bell hated her so much was because he got into a lot of trouble because of her. Every time he treated her like a normal slave, he would be severely punished by the higher-ups. He tried to take his anger out on Misaki through verbal abuse, but sometimes, that wasn't enough, either.

Misaki walked around the bar portion of the torturing room, handing out bottles of wine and beer to the slaveholders and torturers who ordered her to do so. She occasionally got a few cheek squeezes and invites to sleep together from a few of the drunkards, but she walked away quietly instead of responding.

She didn't need to respond. She sure wanted to, physically, with a punch to their faces, but the tracker that was linked to her neck forbade her and kept her from acting out.

Going back to Bell, who was drinking far too much, she grabbed the barrel drink from him. No matter how much she hated Bell, she didn't really need to see another person bite the dust for slacking off on their jobs because they were drunk. And also, drinking during work time was prohibited and could be punished by torture. The slave master wouldn't even hesitate to kill anyone who wasn't doing their job correctly, and Misaki was doing Bell a favor, in her eyes.

Apparently, it was much less than a favor in _Bell's_ eyes.

"You little bitch!" Bell slapped the girl in the face, but she didn't even fall. She was used to much worse. To prove that, her left thumb was cut off, her right index finger was _burned_ off, and her face and body were covered in scars- internally and externally. She resisted the urge to fight back.

It would only cause trouble for the others.

Compared to what she had been through, the slap was just air pushing her away.

"You can't drink so much… Or else you'll get into trouble." Misaki explained. She was being extremely calm, which must have pissed Bell off.

"I don't give a fuck! Don't touch my shit, bitch!" Bell's language was excessive, but normal. He smacked her forehead with his fist this time. "As if you even care about me…" He swiped back his drink and stormed to his seat.

It was annoying, how much Misaki wanted to beat the shit out of all the guards and torturers if she didn't have an explosive ring around her neck, stalking her every single hour of every single day. Instead, she was treated like an animal, used as an entertainment tool. A shield for her masters. The worker and the foundation of the building. Treated like garbage.

That was what the slave was assigned to do.

"Fuck! Fuck! She's so annoying, and I can't even-"

"Hey, Bell. Could you shut up for at least one moment of your life?" Bell gasped, and looked at the person at the main door of the torture chamber. It was a boy with black hair, similar to his father's-the head of the mansion, Hakotsu- his name was Rekatsu. Bell bowed down and stammered out a few pleas to spare his life.

"Ooooooh, burned." Quo drawled out quietly enough so that Rekatsu couldn't hear and drank his beer calmly.

"And what's in the cup?" Bell was asked. The former flinched.

"B-Beer. Misaki gave it to us! We refused, obviously. Drinking on the job is a terrible thing to do!" Bell nudged Quo, who immediately set his alcohol down. "Oh, y-yeah, right."

Misaki didn't bother to tell the truth. What were her words as a lowly slave to... well, anyone? It didn't matter, anyway. The same thing always ended up happening.

"Aw, is that so? Misaki's such a nice girl, isn't she?" Instead of punishing the girl, he was congratulating her. "Giving beer to the undeserving." He pulled the blue haired girl closer to her and made her face the torturers. "Isn't she?"

Bell and Quo exchanged glances and gazed back at Rekatsu, who was grasping a still Misaki, in fear and worry.

"Isn't she?" He repeated, the same tone, but there was a cold threat lacing through his words.

Who could argue with the rightful heir of the entire island of Sentorappu?

"...Yes…" They synchronized.

No, Misaki didn't like Rekatsu. In fact, she despised him to his very core. She pulled away from his grasp and trudged along, from Bell, Quo, and the awful Noble she was facing.

"Mii-chan, do I get a prize for being your knight in shining armor?" Rekatsu asked, trying to pull off a seductive look. The navy blue haired girl grimaced and walked away.

She knew that he was in love with him- the more appropriate term being "lust." He was definitely strong, handsome, and smart. He wasn't like the other Celestial Dragons, and that was for sure. But like every Noble, there was something off about him.

Rekatsu, on the outside seemed gentlemanly. He, at least, _pretended_ not to be a fuck up like the rest of the Celestial Dragons sashaying around Sentorappu Island.

Actually, Misaki found that _more_ sickening than a regular Noble.

When the blue haired girl first met him, she hoped and prayed that there was even just one part of him that was human.

However, his love was all about sadistic and perverted, sick thoughts. She didn't even think she would live for a romance she actually wanted.

Misaki, no matter how much she was injured, always looked beautiful. Her skin was slightly tanned, her eyes were big and brown, her hair was soft, wavy, and a navy blue color, and her body was already its own hourglass figure, although she was only thirteen.

"Misaki-chan, you should take my coat. It's getting chillier down here with all the wind coming through the windows." He snorted as he rested a thick fur over Misaki's shoulders. She brushed it off, Rekatsu catching it before it hit the putrid mud floor. He frowned, adding another remark that would really set the girl off. "At least they have some flames and furnaces going on around here. Too bad the smoke coming out of them smells like dead stuff." He held his nose and laughed at his own joke. Misaki grimaced, hoping he would leave before she said something she'd regret in the long run.

"Oh! By the way, I saw you fighting," Rekatsu said, stopping his laughs. Of course he did. The fights were battles literally _made_ for the royals and nobles.

"Yes." Misaki strained herself from throttling the boy for continuously making small talk with her, but she feared her head would be chopped off if she laid a finger on this _golden_ son of a bitch.

"Yes? You should be patting yourself on the back, not responding with such a boring statement!" Rekatsu pumped his fists.

"Uwaahh. You aren't injured at all!" The raven haired boy stared at Misaki's body with carnivorous, fake-surprised eyes. "And to think you entered a competition of one hundred slaves, _fighting for their lives_."

Misaki said nothing. Slave battles were common every day in Sentorappu and Misaki entered a lot of them, but only when it was essential. She would first look at the amount of rations that would be given to the winning champion and analyze the people- her competitors- who were deciding on entering. If they were too strong, then she would opt out. But fools who were going to battle thinking that they could _outsmart_ Misaki were the same fools who would die in the coliseum after she received her rations. Misaki could handle slaves who were fed on desperation or their egos, and that was how she won all the battles that she entered. It was a ruthless process, but it worked. It helped her and the children she adored stay alive for another day.

This particular match in the present presented money as the prize, which was much better than rations. Money could help Misaki purchase something extra special for the children, but she would have to wait for a certain someone to get off her ass in order to buy what she needed.

"What are you going to do with the money?" Rekatsu asked.

Silence. Misaki continued to step away.

Rekatsu followed her and leaned in, close enough to send chills down the navy blue haired girl's spine. "Why don't you play with me for a little while, hmmm?" His voice made her cringe.

"No." Misaki strained herself from punching the boy in the face.

"Remember when we were young and you used to be my playmate? Those were fun times!" Rekatsu recalled the halcyon days when Misaki was forced to befriend Rekatsu during the free periods of his day- when he wasn't taking lessons, or when he wasn't busy at royal parties or whatever. Those were the moments Misaki especially hated, as she discovered Rekatsu's true colors during their time spent together.

"I'll be there when you need me, Misaki-chan!" He called as she ran away from him. The faux smile on his face disappeared, replaced with a neutral, but dark, expression.

"At least pretend to like me... idiotic slave," He muttered under his breath as he tightened his grip on his coat.

Misaki watched over the tiny children as they were hauling large bricks.

"Can I take over for a slave?" She began, and the slaveholder took one look at Misaki's face and shook his head. "You do this every day. Get outta here before we start shippin' ya off to a slave brothel!" He shooed her away, and tightened the grip on his whip as he did so.

But before she had walked away far enough, the navy blue haired girl watched a little girl struggle with a cement block as a guard began to punch her in the face. The little girl, Aika, tried squirming away from the guard, but his strong arms kept her in place as she cried out and fervently apologized. Apologized for what?

"Aika!" Misaki glowered at the torturer, and thankfully, was unnoticed.

She ran to Aika, but was stopped by an unknown slave, But, that was only because his face was covered in blood and dirt.

How cruel.

"Don't. That will only make things worse." He declared, and the navy blue haired girl's lower lip quivered.

She lowered her arms and fell to her knees. "I know."

The world was so cruel.

Crueler than the slave keepers, the Celestial Dragons, or any person or thing she ever met.

Just… cruel.

It was enough to keep her from trying to protect a little girl who was getting beat up by a slave keeper.

She couldn't do anything.

No…

There was nothing she could do.

* * *

"Hmph! I could have won if I tried." Meia grunted, picked up her frilly dress, and stomped out of the room. Her long, purple braids glided as she stormed off.

Looking down at the chess board in front of his face, and then back at the door his daughter had exited from, the master of Sentorappu Island sighed heavily and put his hand to his forehead in irritation.

"Summon Misaki to come here, right now." He turned his head to a bodyguard standing right behind him.

"Yes, Sir." The guard shuffled through his pocket and pulled out a remote control. He clicked a black button on it with his thumb.

Moments later, Misaki arrived, walking cautiously and daintily. Rekatsu followed her, a skip in his step as he eagerly looked at his father.

Her body was covered in marks- many of them were old and few were fresh. Her knees were bleeding and she had on the same dress that she wore for years now. A black cloak was draped across her shoulders as a request from Hakotsu, since even though the basement where the enslaved children worked faced extremely high temperatures due to multiple reasons, the rooms for Nobles were mostly air conditions and a skimpy, thin dress wasn't going to help Misaki whatsoever. The maids near the door patted the blue haired girl's injured knees with warm, wet, cloths, but Misaki kicked them away as they scurried back in fear.

She refused to bow. Instead, the girl bore holes through Hakotsu's eyes. Usually, if a slave was summoned and didn't immediately bow and look to the ground from the master of the slave business in Sentorappu, he would be forced to go down on his knees and would be shot in both legs. But all the guards were afraid to touch Misaki. They all knew, from past experience, that doing something like that- giving her the same treatment as other slaves- would put their own lives in more danger than her own.

No one really knew why, but Hakotsu really cherished the girl, even if she was a slave. But he never tried to pursue her or abuse her, like any other Celestial Dragon would do. His relationship, while being one-sided, was kind of... parental. Even when Misaki would say the most venomous words about him and his family, Hakotsu seemed to care about her thousands of times more than he did his own daughter.

"Misaki, dear! How are you doing downstairs?" He chuckled.

No response.

Rekatsu ghosted his hand through her hair as a warning, and Misaki shivered.

"You don't need to know, as you have no sympathy for anyone in the third rank." She answered promptly.

"Mmmhmm, not true. I care about you."

"Then release me."

"Must you say this every single time I bring you here?" He placed his index finger and thumb underneath his chin. "My daughter, Meia, was just here. We played chess together. I won."

"Intriguing, Your Grace," The blue haired girl answered sarcastically.

A maid was expertly holding a silver tray with a cup in one hand and was pouring tea from a china pot with the other, all while looking down from the Nobles that might be distracted by her actions. The tea had a wonderful aroma. Maybe jasmine? Some variation of it, for sure.

"Speaking of winning," Hakotsu continued, "I also viewed your outstanding performance today during the game."

"Game? What do you say, Your Grace?" Misaki asked with poison lacing her words. "I was not present in any game today." You could tell that one way or another, Misaki was educated grandly by the way she spoke and acted.

"Why, of course, the game of slaves? You competed against one hundred slaves, and you emerged victorious. Now, if that's not a game, I'm afraid there _are_ no games in this world."

"That was not a game, Your Grace, but rather, a battle that spilled unnecessary amounts of blood all for the pleasure of _unnecessary people_." Misaki spat out the last words clearly and angrily. "I simply won only because the rest of the contestants were too busy killing each other off so that they could buy some simple food to satisfy their empty stomachs. I won because I wasn't hungry."

"I choose not to see a game that way." Hakotsu said.

"Well, that is your own game. But this is mine." Misaki answered.

The room was suffocated with gold and red. There were decals and small detailed pieces of furniture and tinker-tots all over the place, and this was only the mere resting room. Hakotsu's building consisted of more than ten of his own private rooms- an eating room, the room they were in at the moment, his extravagant bedroom that was the size of a football field, a sports room, and many more.

"Sit down." He requested, motioning to the empty seat across from him. It didn't sound like a request, though. Rekatsu plopped himself on a nearby sofa and glided his fingers through the tassels attached to its arms.

She did as she was told this time, stepping toward the table at a leisurely pace.

"Get Misaki something better to wear." Hakotsu demanded one of the guards. He glanced at the girl. "After the game, you can change into something more comfortable."

"I won't be playing."

"Oh, Misaki, when you were young, you used to adore playing chess! You were quite skilled at it, too." Rekatsu hummed as he envisioned nostalgic memories of the two of them facing each other with a only a simple chess board separating them. "You loved when you got to say 'Check.' There used to be a glint in your eyes when you played, as if you were planning the whole game out."

"He never talks like that about me," Rekatsu whispered to a nearby maid, who jolted in surprise at the sudden action.

"I will not be playing the game with you, _Hakotsu_."

Misaki slammed a hand into the middle of the chess set, and with one swoop of her arm, chess pieces of white and black went flying. The bodyguards circling the room stiffened.

The chandelier overhead made charming clinking sounds due to the sudden impact, but the volume of the diamonds clashing against each other slowly depleted until everything was still once again. The maids hurriedly knelt down and scrambled for the fallen chess pieces, not ever daring to look up or do anything out of the ordinary. The floorboards creaked as they crawled around.

'Yeesh, first name?' Rekatsu leaned back into his seat, chewing on his sleeve with a dreary look on his face. 'That must put a dent in Father's pride, right?'

"Now, now, don't be like this." Hakotsu chided towards the girl. "Do you want this to be a repeat of last time?"

Misaki stiffened. She inhaled sharply and stood up straight.

"We give you better treatment than the rest, and I don't understand why you refuse to join the upper class slaves and stay with the children. There's a reason why I favor you, still and always. No matter what, there's a reason for everything," The Noble continued, in genuine confusion.

"There's a reason for trapping hundreds of thousands of children in a basement of some sort, subjecting them to starvation and torture?" Misaki snapped.

"Well, that's one way to put it." The man cleared his throat. "Yes. There's a reason for that, as well. But that's not how I would describe what you just said."

"It's more of keeping the vermin in order- right, Father?" Rekatsu spoke up suddenly, his eyes filled with mischief.

"...What?" Misaki raised her voice in utter fury. "They share the same blood as you."

"Misaki, it's true. Those slaves are vermin. They refuse to be changed- to be transformed to greater beings, like us. Or rather, their beings and bodies refuse to be changed." Hakotsu put a hand to his heart. "But people like you and me, Misaki? We are different. We are different than the rest of them. And we will soon be of a completely different level than those lower beings." He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder. "You have to understand. They are just cattle, waiting to be slaughtered."

The blue haired girl gritted her teeth, not saying another word until she was escorted out of the lavish room and back into the basement.

* * *

Afterwards, during the nighttime, all the younger slaves, in inhumane, iron cages, listened to Rex, Misaki's best friend, tell outrageous stories.

This one specific night was one of the most important nights for Misaki.

Because it was the worst and best night of her life.

Twelve year old Rex never received a name to begin with. This red haired boy was one out of the few who survived the torture, since he was strong and mighty. He was a slave because his parents gave birth to him as slaves. Rex had a wild sense of imagination, and he was always talking about planes, birds, and basically anything that flew. Rex was that one kid who would probably be really popular in school. Even in the darkest situations, he would always crack a smile or make corny jokes that would make others laugh. He was the main reason why the children were holding on for so long. Of course, Misaki also contributed for the younger children. After all, they were two of the oldest of the children's sector.

If Misaki was the mom of the children's group, Rex was the moronic father.

So, she called him Rex, like the wild and untamed child he was. He was called "bastard" before she met him.

Yes, "Rex" was probably better.

"I need some food." Rex muttered, too hungry to even tell any more of his stories.

Every child slave was ridiculously skinny. Misaki, however, stole food from the torturer's pantry and coaxed Rekatsu for food when she was really desperate, to feed the little ones.

Of course, they would always manage to get by. Only barely, though.

And besides, Misaki fought in weekly battles in the arena for the Celestial Dragons' sick joke of "entertainment." Whenever she could.

She received more rations for winning, even though most of the children, including Rex, didn't like that she would kill to receive food for them.

Joy.

When Misaki's monologuing was over, she turned to the redhead, who was staring at her intently.

"You okay, Misa?" he asked.

"Mmm." Misaki replied quietly. She twiddled around with her fingers.

"So, I have a plan to get out of this shit hole." Rex smirked and motioned everyone to lean close.

"We all commit suicide?" One boy suggested darkly, and Rex shook his head. At this point, suicide did sound good. But some of them had already tried that a year ago, and they were each whipped fifty times.

Even the children who refused to kill themselves were forced to take the punishment.

But Rex wasn't having any of that.

"We all pretend we're dead?" A small girl who was only joking around, huddled up into a ball. Rex face palmed and shouted in exasperation.

"YOU GUYS HAVE NO BRAINS!" The red haired boy shouted in comical anger. Rex sighed, putting his hands to his head. "Alright. This is how we're going to do it."

"Remember that they have cameras watching us." Misaki reminded Rex, and he grumbled. "Sometimes, you're more stupid than you think."

"SHUT UP, MISAKI!" Rex roared in comical anger, and some of the younger children laughed. After realizing where they were, the children were quickly hushed with forlorn expressions. Just then, Misaki heard a small voice coming from the one of the cages in the back.

"Misaki, Kanou died today." A small boy with a large wound on his head looked up at the navy blue haired girl, and Misaki flinched.

Kanou was a white haired boy with lung cancer, brought in as a slave from parents who were enslaved for being pirates. The last time she saw Kanou, he was on the floor, being choked to the brink of death by a torturer while two others held him down.

Horrifying.

"You're hurt. Did you try to stop the torturers?" Misaki demanded in a stern voice.

"...Yes." The boy whimpered.

"What did I tell you about that?" Misaki questioned, and turned to the other children. "No matter what happens, you must value your live before all others. Even if you see your own family or friend die, there's nothing you can do. So don't try to risk getting yourself hurt or killed." She stared at the youngsters intently. "Understood?"

They muttered a few words, but Misaki didn't hear any clear replies, so she decided to slam her hand onto the iron ground of her pathetic cell. "I asked you something." Her voice thundered in a commanding way.

"Yes." They chorused together in tired voices, and Rex rolled his eyes because of how obedient the kids were to Misaki and not him. "Someday, I'll be respected like you, Misaki!"

Misaki nodded once, but found herself hearing a sobbing. She found a recognizable child curled up in her cage. Her brown wisps of hair were all over the place, all messed up and unkempt.

Misaki sighed and held out her hand from the space in between two of the bars on her cage. She held onto the hand of the girl who was beaten up because of her inability to hold heavy bricks, Aika.

"Are you alright?" She asked, her navy blue hair pushed to the side.

The girl was shuddering at the sudden touch. Then, she softened and started bawling, going all out. Misaki breathed out slowly. She began singing a song that she had heard when she was still in the nursery room with her interchanging caretakers, where nothing seemed to matter and she was yet to be exposed to the Celestial Dragons and their cruelty.

She started softly, so that only Aika and a few surrounding cages could listen to her calming, trickling

"When the stars come out,

"Everything stops.

"I give you a kiss

"We're on the top.

"Now everyone's lost

"In the haze of defeat

"Still, stand strong

"And rise to your feet

"Sing to the champions

"And sing to me, baby

"There's one for you, a throne

"And one for me if you save me

"Just don't let me go

"Don't let me break away

"From your love

"Love,

"Love."

Misaki knew that song, all the lyrics, all the beats, all the melodies, by heart.

The funny thing was, she never got tired of it. She actually quite liked it, which was ironic, considering that she heard it from the home of the Celestial Dragons who she despised.

The other children sang along with her, for it was the only song they knew how to sing.

Aika mumbled the words out quietly, as well.

So quiet that her voice could have been broken at that time.

The navy blue haired girl squeezed that girl's hand so tightly, she was afraid she was going to start crying.

'No! I can't cry. If I cry in front of them…' Misaki thought. 'They'll lose all hope. All hope…'

The thirteen year old soon drifted to sleep, still grasping Aika's small hand. She felt small, lean fingers curl tightly over her own. But before she could actually pass out, Aika's voice opened up.

"Misaki, do you think I'll ever get to see the sky?"

She jerked at the small girl's innocent but broken voice. Without letting go of her hand, Misaki turned around to press her back into the cold bars of the cages, hiding her face from Aika. She allowed a tear to slide down her cheek and her shoulders trembled softly. She was relieved that it was dark, so the children didn't have to see her like this.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if, like the girl who was singing that song, she had someone who could be with her, too.

Someone who never left her side.

Someone who would rescue her from this hell.

But she didn't have anyone.

* * *

The thing was, Misaki and the small group of kids weren't the only ones in the children's sector of slaves in the building.

Oh, there were many, many other children before them.

When she first came into the building, she was a newborn.

She was taken care of for the first five years of her life and she was really just living quite a normal life.

In a room tinted with a light peach color, having a nice fluffy mattress as the floor, and pillows and blankets and stuffed animals scattered all around the place.

But the only scary thing about the area was that she was never alone.

There was always a woman with her, and that woman would change from a different person every three months or so.

Her first mother was a red haired one with dark ivory skin. She was rowdy and didn't really pay attention to Misaki. She was gone in sixty two days.

Her fourteenth mother was blond and had pale skin. She was extremely nice and read stories to the blue haired girl, holding onto her carefully for the ninety three days she stayed with her.

Misaki didn't know about the system until she was four years old, when she saw her current guardian at the time being slaughtered by a Celestial Dragon. She screamed, and the Celestial Dragon turned.

He placed her back into the room with a new person.

These innocent people were killed every few months.

She then found out that all the women who were appointed to her were each very sick and weren't expected to live very long.

And then when she became older, she realized that the women were all failures from experiments that either gave them tumors or some kind of illness.

So, for the first four years of her life, she spent them with around twenty different women.

Who were now all dead.

But this was besides the point.

Children were probably uncommon for the slave industry, but for Sentorappu Island, it apparently had to be established more.

When she was introduced into the building as a slave, she was (obviously) put in the children's sector.

There.

Were.

 _Thousands_.

Of small children.

And they were crying. None of them were smiling, not even the little ones who were unaware of what was going on. A little girl was crying for her mother, constantly calling out her name, but was silenced by the mere stare of a guard nearby.

She just broke down at the memory.

"So, this is it." A girl with milk chocolate skin and pure white hair cried, holding Misaki's hand. She must have been around thirteen or fourteen. She was laughing bitterly.

"This is what humanity has come to, you rotten assholes!" She threw her fist up into the air, and screamed. Screamed for a long time.

That was where she met Cara. Bruce would come shortly after, only because he was _found_ and taken in as a slave.

The two of them were siblings, Cara slightly older than her brother, and they were both slaves, forced to sell their beautiful bodies to hungry Celestial Dragons.

What Misaki had failed to realize sooner was what when Cara was holding the former's hand, it wasn't to comfort the younger girl, but it was because the whited haired girl was scared to death of the future and what events it would bring.

And to be completely honest, Misaki was afraid as hell, too.

* * *

There was another time when Misaki and another child, a girl about the same age as her at the time, with bobbed pink hair and fair skin, were taken into a white room. Misaki was seven years old at that time, and she was confused about what would happen. But considering that the girl's contorted face wasn't showing any happy signs, it couldn't have been good.

"Oh, my. They really are like dolls."

A man in a pure white lab coat walked in. He had black, messy hair, and circular framed glasses.

'Well, he looks kind of gentle, at least.' Misaki thought. 'Although, maybe a little bit psychotic,'

"However, you, my dear, are much more exquisite." The doctor looked at Misaki in an approving way, Misaki growing quite uncomfortable now. He smiled slyly, trying to make the mood of the atmosphere a little lighter, and then turned to the other. "But I must say, that vibrant shade of color to your hair is quite attractive to the eyes." He addressed the pinkette in a bored tone.

Misaki felt a glare streaming holes into the back of her head, and she knew it wasn't the doctor.

"So! You two are going to take a test, and then we're going to see if we can move up your ranking." He clapped his hands together, and Misaki cocked her head.

'Ranking? Why was I chosen for ranking?' She muttered internally. 'Is it because I'm an _exquisite_ _doll_?'

"Would you like to know why you two were specifically chosen?" The doctor had read her mind.

"Yes." Misaki answered before the other girl could say anything.

"Well, it really doesn't have anything to do with _her_." He pointed at the pink haired girl. "It was an order from the head of the building to test _you_ , Misaki. This girl is here because she was just a bit interesting, and she would make a nice companion as you took the test."

"Why me?" Misaki mumbled quietly, and the doctor didn't hear her. She forced herself not to look at the other girl, who probably fuming with anger as of the moment.

The doctor had directed the two seven year olds into another room, and sat Misaki onto a table. She then looked around her, seeing 3D holograms appear before her eyes.

"Wha-"

"Calm down, Misa-chan, it's just new technology." The doctor laughed at Misaki's widened eyes and her mouth, gaped open. "All you have to do, is take this simple test."

He also sat the pinkette on the opposing table, and the same thing happened to her, as well.

"Answer these questions in any way possible, and you will be given a grade. If you are above three hundred points, you will be moved into middle class. If you are below three hundred, you will stay right where you are, or low class." The doctor explained, and the pink haired girl stood up.

"What's the high class score?"

Misaki and the doctor stared at the girl in shock.

"...That would be above nine hundred points. But it's impossible."

Misaki breathed in, and then out. There was a countdown clock on the screen, and Misaki began when the clock reached zero.

Simple questions, she bulldozed through.

Harder questions required more effort, and she answered them to the best of her ability. There were a lot of math questions, and the pinkette seemed to breeze through the test.

She seemed very confident, actually.

When the timer buzzed off, the holograms disappeared. Misaki was prompted to sit on the table, her face filled with anxiety. She didn't know whether to send a look of acknowledgement or an expression of "I hope we both pass" to the pink haired girl. Either way, the latter probably wouldn't have taken either options well.

"Now, the final scores."

Before he showed the test scores to the girls, he took a quick peek at them first.

And the look on his face was absolute, pure surprise. He looked as if one of them discovered a cure for a deadly epidemic.

Misaki looked up at a large screen, presenting the two scores.

But there were no names. One number on top of the other.

One thousand points, and then three hundred points as the bottom number.

Misaki felt her eyes widen. She either received one thousand points or three hundred points.

What? A perfect score? Already disregarding her own abilities, Misaki immediately thought, 'Was the pinkette even capable of doing that?'

The girl in the other testing table had a smug grin on her face. She looked extremely confident that her number was not the latter.

"Misa-chan, I can't believe this."

Misaki shuddered. She had the chance to move up a class, and it didn't look like she was passing.

But the doctor surprised her.

"You got a thousand points. A perfect score." The doctor looked overwhelmed, and then the other girl abruptly turned her head to face the navy blue haired slave.

"What!? I got a… a three hundred!?" Her fists clenched around the arms of the chair she was sitting on, and she was visibly shaking in shock.

"Apparently so." The doctor replied.

"Wait." Misaki stopped the doctor and the girl from saying anything else. "That means that I'm part of the high class now?"

"Precisely."

"And what about her?" Misaki glanced at the other slave, who flinched.

"Oh, she'll be moved down to lower class." The doctor replied. "We don't need anyone who gets such a pathetic score."

"W-What!?" The pink haired girl exclaimed. "You…!" She lunged at the doctor, but was met with a hand on her face as she was pushed back into the wall with such brute force. She fell to the floor, bleeding from the back of her head due to the impact.

"And this is exactly why she can't get back into middle class," The black haired man put a hand to his chin. "Lowly scum, always attacking whatever's in plain sight."

The pink haired girl looked up at the man in hatred, but also in fear.

"As expected of..." He turned back to Misaki, but stopped mid-sentence. "...Never mind. You did amazingly. No one's ever gotten over a nine-fifty, let alone a perfect score."

"Wait!" Misaki grabbed the man's coat sleeve. "I'll trade places with her."

"You'll do what now?" The doctor raised an eyebrow.

"I don't need high class. I really don't need it. I'll trade places with her," Misaki said in a determined, yet shaky voice.

'What are you doing. What are you doing, Misaki!?' she thought. But her instinct was already choosing for her.

"Hahaha! You're very interesting, Misa-chan." The black haired man nodded. "Fine. But you've already been through the lower class, and she was in the middle class for a long time because both of her siblings were also part of the middle class." The doctor leaned in and whispered into Misaki's ear. "She's been living a better life than you, Misaki. Don't you feel angry about that?"

Silence.

But not for long. Misaki wouldn't let Celestial Dragons overcome her will.

"No." Misaki emphasized strongly.

"You might never get an opportunity like this again." His face was all up in Misaki's, and as his breath touched her ear, she shivered.

"No." Misaki murmured. "Please, just help her…"

"No?" The doctor leaned back and plopped himself into a swivelling work chair. "If your answer stays true, then I guess I have to follow your interesting request."

Misaki was directed out from the room by another doctor, taking her shoulders with his freakishly long fingers. She looked back at the pink haired girl who was crawling towards Misaki. "W-Wait! Why would you-"

The man grabbed the pink haired girl and pulled her hand harshly through another door, making the gap between the two girls even larger. The screams of confusion and sadness rang throughout Misaki's head, as she never saw the pinkette again.

She could have ended her suffering.

But instead, she chose the right path for a total stranger, who she never saw again.

The pink haired girl didn't enter high class as Misaki was promised.

A few months after the testing went on, the high class sector came to visit the low class once again. This time, Misaki was expecting a girl the same age as her, but she was nowhere in sight. She asked numerous people. They didn't know any pink haired girl.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the testing doctor smiling at Misaki with a smiley smile. A smile which could only be mustered by the mouth of a liar and a murderer.

The small, pink haired girl was killed by the doctor who lied.

* * *

And now, she was thirteen.

'I didn't even get to know her name…' Misaki thought.

If she hadn't made the stupid decision of switching places with that girl, maybe they both would have survived.

But then again, Misaki didn't want anyone facing the hell she was in, even if the other option was death.

Being a low class slave was something no one could handle.

Well, at least Cara and Bruce were still alive. There was at least that small glimmer of hope for Misaki whenever she saw the siblings.

The two of them were moved into the adult sector, where the survival percentage was higher. Because although adults were treated with less sympathy than the kids, they were sturdier because they had been through hell already.

The children, however, were not able to withstand such grueling conditions.

Due to their half-assed jobs of keeping the kids alive, because of the slave keepers, the number of thousands of innocent, young slaves, were brought down to only about thirty children in just nine years.

Nine years.

In just nine years, thousands of children had died.

Those thousands of children could have lived way longer lives.

But instead, they faced a terrible punishment that they didn't even deserve.

Misaki slept in her cage, grasping Aika's hand tightly and with love. She didn't want another one to let her go. Not until this girl was safe and happy.

The thirteen year old's eyelids began to sink as she drowned into darkness.

Misaki dreamt about her family.

Her beautiful Aika, of course. Her loving children, as most considered Misaki a mother, since those children were born into the slavery system of Sentorappu and separated from their real parents at birth. Her best friend, Rex, who was the fiercest boy on the outside, but still cried during his sleep- and had a good reason to. Her protectors in the adult sector, her guardians, and her security, who all loved her with more heart than she believed she deserved.

And then she thought about her real family. Her mother, who must have been a gorgeous young woman with such an enthusiastic spirit. Her father, a gruff person who probably liked his coffee with milk. Her brother, who she didn't know about until she heard a tester discuss it to another one with hushed voices, but not quiet enough to let Misaki hear. She always wondered where… who her brother was. She always hoped that he was alive, and wished desperately that he was not in this godforsaken place. She always imagined their family. Happy. Enjoying life in a small cabin home, near a beach with many different plants and flowers growing in her mother's large garden to eat delicious and exotic foods she never tried before as a slave.

She wanted that life so, so very badly.

She wanted her other family to have that life more than she wanted herself to have it.

And she dreamt on, until she found herself awake, at night.

She looked around.

'What exactly woke me up…?'

She turned to face the back of the cage, where golden-green eyes stared at her. She almost yelped if she hadn't been in a slave room.

"What?"

Cara.

"What are you doing here!?" Misaki whispered in a "I'm going to castrate you if I ever get out of this cage tonight" type of way. "How are you even here!?"

"We're running away. I knocked out the guards and messed with the cameras." Cara stated back.

Misaki almost scoffed at that. "Cara, are you serious?"

"Yep."

"Don't screw around with me. You're going to get yourself killed before anything else," She replied, sitting inside her cage like an old man would.

Cara smirked. "Why would I screw around? I won't be doing that anymore." (get it? cus she's a prostitute. so she won't screw around anymore? i've exited the chat bye)

Misaki gazed at the white haired girl's eyes.

Those green eyes weren't lying.

She slowly turned her head to look at the other children. Sleeping soundly and silently, Misaki felt a heavy weight drop to the floor of her stomach.

"Take them first." Misaki said.

"No can do, Misaki. If we travel with someone more responsible and strong, like you, it'll be a higher chance of survival for all of us." Cara answered with the same smile but a change of tone in her voice.

"Take Rex, then."

"We're not fucking taking that kid. He's too loud." The white haired woman groaned. "We're taking you because you're like family to us. Just come with me, we're wasting time." She tried to pull the younger girl away from the room, but the latter pulled back.

"Take anyone else but me!" Misaki cried out, and the woman crouched down to look at Misaki's face.

As much as Misaki wanted to escape- she wanted that more than anything else- she knew the best thing to do was put the children first.

It was the right thing.

So why did Cara want to do the wrong thing?

"Misaki. Look at me."

Misaki gulped. She knew what Cara was going to say already.

"You can't save everyone, Misaki. You have to let them go, in this situation. It's better for you to survive than for you to die along with them."

"I know." Misaki's shoulders trembled. "But…! But I can't just leave them here! They're the closest things I have to family. I wouldn't be able to live with their deaths hanging above my head-"

Cara patted her on the head. "Misaki. Stop it. You know there's nothing you can do to save them right now." Cara sighed. "We'll escape. We'll escape, and as a trio, we'll be in hiding for a few years before we can come back and bring hell to this place, and rescue everyone." She looked back down at the navy blue haired girl on the ground. "Got it?"

At this point, all their jabbering wasn't going to wake up any of the enslaved children since they were too deep in their sleep after a hard day of manual labor and exhaustion, but instead, Cara seemed anxious that a slave keeper would walk by and ruin their chances of escape.

"If we stay in hiding for a month... _A single month_..." Misaki said, her voice breaking. "God knows what they'll do to everyone else left here. Cara, you haven't thought this through! You don't understand how we're inflicting more damage to everyone else here! A few years? What are you, insane? What do you think's going to happen if we disappear for a year, you think nothing's going to happen to them and the slave keepers and Nobles are going to pretend that we never existed?"

Cara slapped Misaki's arm.

"Ow!" The navy blue haired girl glared at Cara. "Why-"

"-You don't get to say any of this." The dark skinned woman muttered. "You're always spouting speeches for all the others about how, in this world, you put yourself first before friends, before family! And you don't even do that for yourself. You're a hypocrite, _and_ you're a bad liar! When I was still here, with you, we'd always fantasize with Bruce about different escape plans and how one day, we were gonna get outta this hellhole! And now, you're backing out because you have feelings for these kids that would escape in a heartbeat if we asked _them_ instead of you?" She grabbed Misaki's arms.

"I know you want to escape and be free, in the real world, more than anything else. I know you better than anyone in this friggin' room, since when you were a lil' kid, you'd always cry into my arms, telling me about how you really felt, every day." She hugged Misaki tight. "I know."

Letting go of the younger girl after a brief moment, Cara continued, "So, if you really, really want to stay, I can't change that. But I know, in your heart, that you're lying. And you want to leave. But you're not being honest with yourself because of all these kids. You have to let go, and come with us."

Misaki was silent.

All the movement she made was point to the cage beside hers.

"At least take Aika along with us,"

"Hate to break it to you, Misaki, but it's not like we're not bringing these kids because we have enough money! We can't support four people." Cara grunted. "Plus, that girl's done for- she'll die sooner or later because of her age and size."

Misaki lowered her head. "Then I'm not going."

Cara breathed in and then out. She walked over to the crate next to her, where Aika was sleeping soundly, tears aged a few hours streaking her face.

She… She literally _ripped_ apart the bars in a single movement and tucked the brown haired girl under her arm. Misaki felt her eyes light up, but only by the tiniest bit. "Cara…"

"Don't be a fangirl. We're moving, got it?"

She snapped her fingers, and Bruce appeared out of nowhere. He lifted Misaki's crate up with one bare hand as she yelped, but contained her voice.

"Bruce, what the hell!?" Misaki hissed.

"I'm rescuing you, duh!" He chortled.

Cara was only a few steps behind, giddy with excitement. "The ship leaves in thirteen seconds!"

"Ship!?" Misaki stared at her good friend wide eyed. If they were caught fooling around, she swore on her life that she would end them.

"We're leaving this place, finally!" Bruce cheered, doing a little happy dance as he zoomed through the hallways. As he was running, he was slowly bending the bars off the cage to form an opening so that Misaki would be able to escape, one by one.

"Bruce! Nine seconds!" Cara sped ahead of the man holding a cage. He chugged behind. "Don't be a slow-ass!"

"You guys are making too much noise!" Misaki cried out, and they both laughed at her.

"You, too!"

They finally reached the outside through a window, and by that time, a few guards had started to notice. They were alerting the higher press and going after the four slaves.

Misaki's adrenaline was rushing. Would they make it?

Or would their metal collars explode before they could set foot on the ship?

A guard was about to grab Misaki's hair from the outside of her cell, but he stumbled and lost his balance, falling down.

"Bruce, stop being a little bitch and hurry!" The white haired girl screamed, already on the ship.

"Alright, alright!" Bruce kicked the guard in the stomach, hard. "Motherfuc-"

"BRUCE!" Cara hollered, the ship moving already.

Misaki felt the collar choking her neck vibrating slowly. "...Bruce? My tracker, it's vibrating!"  
"Shit!" The man hesitated his movement, but kept going. "I'll need to keep it on you for the time being, but we'll take it off on the boat!"

The navy blue haired girl gulped, trying to hold onto the rocky ride.

Finally, they reached the dock and the brother jumped outstandingly far onto the deck of the ship. He swiftly grabbed two bars of the cell Misaki was in and broke them apart. The girl escaped her prison and dusted herself off. She felt hands grab at her neck, was startled at first, but calmed herself down when it was just Bruce. He snapped the damned ring around her throat and waved it around the air. "I got it!"  
A man with a sailor suit approached them.

"Who're you? Do you have a ticket?" He asked.

"Let us ride with you until the next stop," Cara demanded, although it should have sounded like a plea.

Misaki viewed the young sailor with her gleaming eyes, and he swallowed, becoming flustered. "O-Okay…" He backed away and when he felt his safety was ensured if he ran, he skittered away for his life.

"Thank God that we're so strong," Cara stroked her own biceps lovingly as Bruce sat next to his sister, rolling his eyes. Yet, it _was_ true. Cara and Bruce were naturally fit and had an amazing physique, which was partly the reason why they were brought into the sex industry, but they probably wouldn't have any trouble doing manual labor. Bruce worked out pretty much every day, and Cara ran around a lot, giving her stamina and speed.

Misaki sat down on the floor of the bus with her legs crossed. She took Aika away from Cara, who had taken off the metal necklace from the small child as well, and held the brown haired girl tightly.

She was so cold.

Cara coiled her hands around her arms, shivering at the wind.

As the siblings warmed up with all they had, stuffing their legs inside the drafty tatters of cloth they called dresswear, Misaki, on the other hand, closed in on Aika to give her more warmth and the feel of protection that she had never experienced.

She also sent out a hopeful thought into the cold, night air that everyone else… all the children and even the adult slaves… would be safe. After their escape, she knew things would be hectic, even though there were only three escapees out of, what, a million captives? Misaki didn't know.

But she hoped everyone would be safe.

Or, at least, alive.

The waves pounded on the sides of the ship as it rocked back and forth in the starry night as the passengers on it were slowly lulled asleep.

* * *

 **Edited May 30th, 2019**

 **Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4: On A Traveling Ship

**Chapter 4: On A Traveling Ship**

* * *

After a while of being on the boat, Misaki realized that Sentorappu was incredibly big, housing a _fuckton_ of ocean around the island's border.

"This ride is taking foreveeeeeer…" Cara moaned, and Bruce put his hand underneath one of the ship's loose boards. "If we stay here for more than two days longer, we'll all sink. The floorboards aren't stable."

"We're all going to die before that happens... " Cara grumbled as she picked on a sea snake that ventured its way into the deck. "Can we eat this?"

" _No_." Bruce prompted like an angry mom.

Misaki huffed and cradled the shivering girl in her arms. "It's okay, Aika. We'll be fine, I promise."

Just then, Aika woke up, her bloodcurdling scream surprising everyone on the ship. Misaki's eyes jolted open. 'She's awake,'

A few passengers and a sailor boy came around to check out the commotion.

"I-It hurts! It hurts so much!" The brown haired girl sobbed, and Misaki loosened her grip on Aika. "What's wrong?" She turned to the gathering crowd. "Is anyone here a doctor? First aid kit!"

Unfortunately, everyone shifted around uncomfortably, probably because they couldn't help, or they didn't want to.

"My head hurts!" Aika shrieked. "There's a weird buzzing sound!"

Cara flinched, and Misaki wrapped burlap all around the little girl. "Sorry, Aika. You're gonna have to hold on for a while, okay? Okay?"

"Misaki, what should I-" Cara stood, ready to do whatever Misaki asked.

"It's the Burheir's Disease. You can get it from the strange modified ticks they created as an experiment a few years back…" Misaki checked all Aika's symptoms.

There was no doubt about it. It really was Buheir's. Misaki remembered the book she had stolen and read, one of the many pamphlets written by one of the scientists there. It would start with crazy hallucinations that were so mentally disturbing that they would actually hurt your head as a migraine would, and then the person would die from losing their sanity. The cure for Buheir's Disease was a simple medication, but it could only be procured from the leaves of specific jungles.

"Wait a second, how do you even know for sure-" Bruce asked, but he was interrupted by the blue haired girl's panicked voice.

"See if anyone around here has any herbs of some sort! From jungles?" Misaki yelled quickly.

" _Jungles_!?" Cara cocked an eyebrow, but got moving.

Misaki turned to the people Cara had pushed past. "Is anyone here a doctor!? Anyone?"

No one stepped up.

"Please! The disease isn't contagious!" Bruce yelled out. Aika's body was heating up significantly to display the excessive amount of stress on her body.

There were a few murmurs and looks of guilt… or pity. But nobody…

 _Nobody_ stepped up.

Cara came back empty handed. She made a 180 and shrieked to the witnesses, "Do _any of you_ have _anything_!?"

There was no response. Only howls of pain from Aika.

A sailor boy stepped up, and Cara's face brightened immediately. "Oh, so you _are_ a doctor! There's a doctor on the ship, Misaki-"

"We have to ask you to silence your child… We're really sorry, but you're causing discomfort for other passengers." He mumbled.

"What the hell, man!? She has Bumblebee Disease! We need a doctor, now!"

"You didn't even pay to ride with us… So we can't offer any medical services. And besides, we don't have anything that can cure diseases."

"No herbs?" Bruce asked hopefully.

"No."

The sailor boy, after making his point, skittered away to avoid the dark atmosphere.

Cradling the malnutritioned, small child in her arms, Misaki whispered in Aika's ear. "You'll be fine. It's okay. Come on, Aika, you're gonna be alright."

It was a repeating mantra to both Aika and the thirteen year old. They were both walking in endless cycles of pain.

Aika's small cries lasted for a full two hours longer, then immediately ceased.

Cara stared at Misaki, who was holding the burlap while sleeping.

"Bruce." The dark skinned woman whimpered. "She's not moving,"

Bruce looked over at Misaki and Aika, whose face was the only thing visible because of the cloth surrounding her entire body. Aika looked as if she was a frozen statue, put in a deep sleep. Her eyes were wide, glossy and lifeless.

And they would be like that forever.

"Misaki. Misaki!" Cara shook the navy blue haired girl, who snapped her eyes open. "What?"

"She's dead."

Misaki didn't even have to look to know what Cara was talking about. In her arms, where there should have been short movements and the warmth of a living human being was replaced with utter cold and silence.

She stared down anyway, just to look at the body of Aika.

And then she screamed.

* * *

Aika was _dead_.

Aika was dead, and it was all her fault.

And as she was thinking about it, Aika died in pain.

She had never experienced a dessert before. She was never exposed to any love from any grown-up, like other normal children were. She was always considered a shadow in desperate need of a cure to her black heart.

But when they were so close to gaining freedom and a regular life, Aika was swept away from it like a breeze.

"Bruce, let's leave her alone for now." Cara said, patting Misaki on the back gently. The sailors of the ship had thrown the dead body overboard when they saw it, and Misaki couldn't even move or speak because she was in that much shock.

Well, it figured. She was in terrible conditions her entire life, as she was a slave. She was worn out and hungry.

"Misaki…" Cara muttered.

Misaki was crying.

No, not the small sobbing she did with her head tucked closely to her knees to hide her frustrations and pain. She was crying for the whole world to hear. She wanted everyone around her- the ones who refused to help a dying child right in front of them- to hear her agony and rage. She was choking back strained noises, screaming into the sky, hoping that if there was anyone out there who could hear her, they would fully interpret her anger.

"I'm going to murder all the Celestial Dragons on that island!" She roared, running to the deck of the ship, to the captain.

"No, Misaki!" Bruce held her in a bear-like hug, preventing her from going anywhere else. "Stop, this isn't going to change anything. You're not helping anyone."

"You're putting all of us in danger if you keep screaming," Cara added with a hushed tone, her face dark and serious. "We don't know who's on this ship."

Misaki continued wailing. The steam engine of the ship covered up her cries of complete agony.

A few days passed in the small ship. Rations were passed out to the people on the ship, while another cart went around to sell more food to the passengers who had money.

"Hope you're all hungry because our fishermen caught us an octopus! More rations for everyone!" A sailor boy announced, bringing everyone to a cheer.

They had all been on the boat for days.

How could anyone be happy?

After Aika had died, Cara and Bruce had to wrangle the corpse out of Misaki's arms and throw her out to the ocean, since that was what the captain had ordered them to do. Misaki was fighting back, hard. She had even resorted to begging to the Captain to let Aika's body stay on the ship until they reached land, where she could be given a proper burial.

"No way! She'll stink up the entire area!" The commander had said. "And besides, look at her. She'll scare the passengers! She looks like a pile of bones, anyway."

"Please!"

He refused. He didn't even show proper remorse for the child. He just looked disgusted by the corpse that troubled his ship. As if Aika was nothing but a mere animal, or a rat. The captain was no different from the monsters in Sentorappu Island, and this was the reality that shone upon Misaki, Bruce, and Cara at this very moment. The world was unfair.

"Misaki! Get a hold of yourself. We'll get thrown off the ship. You're going to get us all in trouble." Cara grabbed Misaki by the arms, and she finally snapped out of it, reducing her cries to soft sobs.

"But-"

"I told you that we couldn't afford any other lives, and we gave Aika the chance she deserved. She was going to die soon, anyway, but she at least experienced the last moments of her life free from Sentorappu." Cara loosened her grip on the girl. "We're gonna get through this. But right now, _we have to let go._ "

Bruce had already gotten a hold of Aika, and Misaki was left with empty arms. The captain sauntered away.

Misaki tugged on Bruce's arm and stared at him with pleading eyes. "Bruce, please don't let her leave like this."

He looked down at her with pity and misery. "M-Misaki... I'm sorry. I can't do anything about this."

"Misaki. Now." Cara folded her arms across her chest and said sternly, but her lower lip was trembling and her facial expression wasn't angry, but rather, hurt and melancholy.

What could they do? It wasn't their ship and Aika was already dead. She'd left the world anyway. But throwing a child, regardless to the fact that she was reduced to a corpse, was just inhuman and wrong. And no one seemed to care.

Misaki threw one last look at Bruce, the softie. He didn't really know what to do, and Misaki, even though Aika was just another slave, was so desperately clinging onto her.

Bruce sighed. "You can do the honors."

The navy blue haired girl knew that she didn't have the luxury to really do anything else.

So she paused.

She hesitated when Aika's body was handed to her.

She held the slack body in her hands as she felt more tears in her eyes.

She kissed Aika's cold cheek.

As she did this, she closed her eyes and an entire lifetime passed by. In memories, she felt as though Aika's life was being replayed in her head. However, most of these memories were only snippets. Many parts of Aika's childhood were missing, and only the warm memories stayed as Misaki almost felt happy inside.

What pained her was the fact that Aika had a lot of her happy memories with Misaki.

The last memory being replayed was from a few days ago, when Misaki and Aika were holding hands on the night of the escape. As Misaki looked at Aika's holographic face in her mind, she felt something at her throat, rising up and causing chaos in her body.

She hugged Aika tightly one more time

And let her go.

There was a large splash, since even though it was a small ship, it wasn't too close to the water.

And listening to that sound hurt because it was almost as if all of Aika's particles scattered in the ocean and disintegrated, vanished.

Misaki didn't dare look. She couldn't, too, for she was crying too hard, her stance in a protective attitude, as if she would lash at anyone who came close to her.

Bruce almost tried to go up to Misaki and embrace her with his bear hug, but Cara stopped him.

She didn't have to, of course. The white haired brother knew better than to approach Misaki at this point.

* * *

An entire week passed on the ship.

Cara, Bruce, and Misaki were in their new room that they had been given a few days ago because the captain took pity on them because of the fact that they had lost a child, and also how he was the one who ordered Misaki to throw her overboard. He assumed that Aika was a sister or maybe even a daughter, and kindly handed them a bracelet for the gold keys and at this day, a bottle of wine.

Cara stared at the bottle with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Is this… wine?" She asked the captain, and he nodded politely.

"I hope you do overcome the great grief of the girl who passed away." He lamented, his eyes fixated on Misaki. Was it the look of worry or infatuation? The blue haired girl didn't care. He was the one who was responsible for Aika's death, technically speaking, since he was the captain and all.

"Thank you." Bruce answered politely, and the captain closed the door.

Cara smirked. "What a nice person."

"I'm pretty sure it was because of Misaki's beauty, though..." Her brother whispered to the dark skinned woman, who was still shiny-eyed at the wondrous bottle of wine in her hands.

"Doofus, you don't think I already know that?" Without taking her eyes off the precious alcohol, she landed a fist into Bruce's stomach.

Misaki was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall of the room, as the ship creaked with such instability that it almost seemed as though the passengers were on a flimsy boat rather than this.

The girl had refused to utter a single sentence ever since Aika's death. There were some grunts of "yes" and "no" every now and then, but that was all. She was mostly silent, and every night she would cry quietly over the fact that she couldn't save Aika.

At this point, it wasn't even the fact that Aika had died which had upset her. It was more so of the fact that in the end, Misaki could only rescue herself. Aika, in her nightmares, just represented the slaves in Sentorappu as a whole that they'd left behind to die by the hands of the Nobles- no, not the Nobles, but her.

Cara and Bruce knew that if they didn't help, it would be bad. But they also knew that if they tried to help, that would be worse. So they left her alone to mourn.

"Misaki, do you want any food?" Cara suggested, handing Bruce a wrapped box consisting of bread, assorted cheeses, and a small bottle of milk. The bread was stale, the cheese was moldy, and the milk was lukewarm and a disturbingly yellow color. It was better than nothing, Cara assumed. "We've got some stuff here."

"No."

"Do you want to go outside? You've been here all day, and that's not good. Also, it smells like fish ass in here."

"No."

Cara pursed her lips. She wanted to say something else, but stopped herself right before any other words could escape her mouth.

"Alright. I'll leave your rations on the table." Cara sighed, and she and Bruce walked out. "We'll let you be, for a while."

"Mm." She murmured, her hands now tucked under her legs and the latter closed up to her head.

Then, after a few minutes, Misaki looked up.

Silence.

She looked around, although she had already toured the small cabin room five times.

There was really nothing to see. The room was basically a mini coffee table, a few windows, a door, and a chair. There was one blanket, one pillow, and one hammock hanging from the ceiling. Cara and Bruce slept there together, although they had insisted they didn't need it. But Misaki wouldn't use the hammock. So in return, the two siblings slept there and gave Misaki the blanket, as they would use the pillow for "comfort," when it really didn't do anything at all.

Misaki slept on the floor. She would poke at the floorboards, the loose floorboards, and notice all the nails that weren't hammered in properly. She would push them in with her thumb, the blanket in between her skin and the metal nail for protection, and they slid into the holes slowly. This was how she killed time. By fixing something that didn't matter. It would have been better if she'd just gone back to Sentorappu and set the entire building on fire, letting the other slaves out and sacrificing her by rushing into the burning building and pummeling the slave keepers and the Gratius Family that were still struggling to make it out of the place.

The blanket, made out of loosely woven wool, was wrapped around her body, since she wouldn't stop shivering.

Cara was right. The room really _did_ smell like fish ass.

Misaki hated fish. She needed to leave the room.

She took the blanket with her, the edges reaching down to the floor and trailing behind her feet.

Cara and Bruce were there, playing poker with an old couple on their honeymoon. Each side was equally pissed off at the other, as both were cheating as if the world were ending tomorrow.

Misaki couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief. She wasn't going through the suffering of the slave house in Sentorappu. She was in a nice ship, in a decent room, and at least Cara and Bruce were still alive.

But then, she thought about Rex.

Her mindset was on the children that were still there, toiling so that they could see through one more day of their miserable lives.

She thought about all the slaves she left behind, just to save herself.

She thought about Aika.

Misaki felt another rush of tears coming, but held her breath.

"Well," she muttered softly, "At least it can't get any worse."

She was quite wrong.

* * *

Misaki was inside the small room of the ship. She had been sleeping for the entire time, although the room still smelled seriously terrible. Well, she would have taken it any day if it meant away from Sentorappu.

The captain of the ship was speaking at the front of the deck, so all passengers could hear him.

"Everyone, rations will be distributed accordingly! We will reach the next island in just one more day, so hold on tight!" He said.

Misaki groaned at the overflowing enthusiasm in the man's voice. Someone had just _died_ in his ship.

"Also, we seem to be heading into a bit of a rainstorm, so hold on tight to your belongings!" Another voice had yelled out.

Several groans from the passengers ensued. Misaki also didn't care for rain, but it was no big deal.

She curled up into a ball once more, just to get herself a little bit warmer. The blanket was wrapped up around her, and this made it look like the first layer of cabbage.

Misaki fell asleep.

Nothing was inside her mind.

And then, she woke up to an unpleasant noise.

There was a sea storm erupting, probably from a weather change. However, as Misaki rose up, running to the edge of the ship, she saw the currents smashing into the ship, threatening to destroy the unstable wood planks.

"It's a whirlpool!" Someone yelled.

It wasn't a whirlpool, the navy blue haired girl knew for sure, but she wished it was one. This was much worse.

"If the current levels of the waves keep up, the ship will get damaged," Misaki realized. This was because the water was hitting on the lower belly of the ship, where everything was supported and held together. If that support was damaged, everyone's lives would be in danger.

Cara and Bruce were nowhere to be seen. It wasn't that big of a ship, Misaki told herself. She would find them in time, right?

"Get the emergency rafts!" The captain of the ship hollered in a panic, and the sailor boys ran to the boiler room.

The boiler room consisted of a leak in the base that was sure to erupt, due to the weak floorboards. Wait. How could Misaki know that?

Nevertheless, just to be safe, she blocked their way. "No! It's too dangerous to go down there!"

"Move!" One boy pushed her away as they opened the door to the boiler room. Misaki could hear the boys going down the stairs, some water- a lot of water- splashing, a few shouts and screams of desperation, and then silence. So she was right. And she felt horrible. Bile rose to her throat, but she choked it back and rushed to the center of the ship, trying to look for the two people she boarded with.

The captain looked around, clearly agitated. It wasn't like anyone else was doing any better, too. The passengers were in pandemonium at the moment, screeching and running around. Now that the lifeboats were no longer available, there wasn't really anywhere else to go.

"Cara! Bruce!" Misaki yelled. "C-Cara! Bruce!"

No response.

Inside her head, the navy blue haired girl heard a snapping sound, as if one of the pipes in the ship just broke off.

The ship was definitely sinking now. The amount of pressure from the water storm would be meaningless at this point- everyone was going to drown, now.

Misaki closed her eyes, hoping this was all just a nightmare.

Then, when she opened them, the first thing she saw was an enormous wave of water, coming directly towards her.

* * *

 **Pls read and review… :) (edited Nov. 30th, 2019)**


	5. Chapter 5: Enter The Straw Hat Pirates

**Chapter 5: Enter The Straw Hat Pirates**

* * *

The heat was unbearable.

" _SHIT_!"

Because that seemed like the perfect way to begin this story, with Roronoa Zoro cursing.

 _Roronoa Zoro_

 _320,000,000B_

"Calm down, Zoro. There was nothing we could have done." Nico Robin said quietly.

 _Nico Robin_

 _130,000,000B_

"...I know, but…" He responded with a pained face, his eyes closed. The other Straw Hats looked at each other in grief and sorrow. But they didn't even know what was going on. There was a dead silence and one could almost hear the tragic-music-on-the-violin cliché.

"...I just lost a _huge_ shark! Come on, motherfucking-" The green haired swordsman began when Nami knocked him out with a good old punch. She glowered at the man whose head was planted into the ground.

 _Cat Burglar Nami_

 _66,000,000B_

"Are you kidding me!? You all were worked up over some _fish_!?" She screamed in comical anger, devil horns peeking out from her head. He got up from the floor of the Thousand Sunny and returned the glare and a grunt of disapproval.

"Oi, Nami! It was a _huuuuuuuge_ one with these big teeth! You should have seen it!" Monkey D Luffy exclaimed, placing his hand under his chin. He then diverted his attention to a bird that came from the last island they were on. "Oh, cool! It's a Nano Bird~!"

 _Monkey D Luffy_

 _500,000,000B_

"You guys are all idiots." The navigator sighed and turned around. "I'm getting something to drink." She walked over to her chair, sat down, and called, "Sanjiiii!" in a girly tone. She used this tone on the cook in order to charm the poor man. Rest in peace, Sanji.

"Nami-swaaaan!" As if on cue, Sanji flew in with a tray of refreshments. There were parfaits and sparkling drinks. There was even a bottle of alcohol.

'She's totally using him.' Luffy, Zoro, and Robin thought at the same time, sweat dropping at Sanji's hilarious "Prince Charming" pose as he held out the tray of drinks as if it was an engagement ring.

 _Black Leg Sanji_

 _177,000,000B_

"Hey, shitty cook. You could only spare one fucking bottle for me?" Zoro demanded, and the blond made a blah face directed to the marimo. In a split second, the two were facing each other in their battle stances.

Again.

"You guys need to stop arguing." Nami pointed out while sweat dropping, sipping an orange smoothie. "Franky, which direction are we headed?" She turned her face to the steering area of Sunny. The shipwright, Franky, answered, starting with his signature "super" pose. "We're going to a winter island with a lot of snow, people! It's gonna be _SUPPEERR_!"

 _Cyborg Franky_

 _94,000,000B_

"Oi, Robin! Where did you put the watering can?" Usopp the sniper asked, poking his head from the inside of the kitchen. The archaeologist took a strange-looking watering can from a nearby table and tossed it to the long nosed man, who nodded in appreciation. "Thanks, Robin! Now, I can water my Pop Green plants without making a mess!"

 _God Usopp_

 _200,000,000B_

"You didn't have to announce your problems with your precious Pop Greens." Luffy responded bluntly, and Usopp sulked all the way to his garden, muttering, "Stupid Luffy..."

"Chopper-san, that is _not_ how you hold a violin!" You could see Brook chasing Tony Tony Chopper holding the instrument with one hand- err… hoof, down the hallway connected to the kitchen.

"But it's so fun! Brook, you're so lucky you get to play on an instrument!" The reindeer giggled while running up the stairs which connected to the crow's nest. Usopp narrowed his eyes and sighed.

 _Soul King Brook_

 _83,000,000B_

 _Tony Tony Chopper_

 _100B_

"All I wanted for Christmas was a normal crew. What did they give me? WHAT DID THEY FUCKING _GIVE_ ME!?" Usopp cried out to no one in particular, staring up at heaven.

"Ahhh." Nami grabbed her refreshing soda and sat on her beach chair in a bright yellow swimming suit.

"Give me something to drink, too! Sanji!" Luffy groaned as he clawed at the cook's hair.

"Shitty captain, I'll get you something in a few minutes!" Sanji shouted and tried shaking the desperate boy off with his leg.

"We're almost always in the hotter climates," Robin muttered in disdain, cooling herself off with a paper fan.

'It's better for me since I get to see my wonderful, favorite ladies in such _wondrous_ clothing…' Sanji responded to Robin's statement- internally.

"Oh well. Maybe we can buy a couple fans when we reach the next island!" Chopper bubbled excitedly, climbing on top of Robin's exposed stomach.

"Hm, that's not such a bad idea, Chopper!" Nami replied, snapping her fingers. "We should get five!"

"I don't think we have the budget to get that many fans. If I calculated correctly…" Usopp murmured, scratching pencil on a paper and using the wooden floorboard as a makeshift table, "We can only afford three or less. The rest of the money goes to necessities and savings."

"Aw, fans are expensive and only let out a little bit of air to cool us down…" Brook contemplated. "Is it really worth buying?"

"Yes." Nami insisted. "Then, it's settled! We're going to get those fans!"

"We should really form a majority voting rule," Zoro nudged Usopp, who sighed. "Yeah…"

This day started like any normal day. The Straw Hats were enjoying, or suffering, in the heat that was brought along with the recent summer island they had just departed from, and were taking in some of the aromas coming from the kitchen.

"Barbeque! Red, rare steak!" Luffy called out and Zoro snorted. "I can't believe you got the entire thing right."

"Please. With the excessive amounts of food he eats, he probably memorized every type of beef out there." Franky chuckled, downing a bottle of cola at the same time.

"You guys are rude." Luffy pouted cutely.

Ah, a normal day.

After that moment, things started tumbling downhill. Really fucking fast.

No one had noticed the shipwright descending into his prized basement of the Sunny, but as they were enjoying the summer weather as best as they could, they were also begging Sanji for food.

"Not yet, shitty bastards! The steak's not properly cooked just yet!" Sanji yelled over the complaints of the crew, Nami and Robin rolling their eyes. Well, Nami rolled _her_ eyes. Robin was just being polite by chuckling, like the mature woman she was.

Men were such animals for food. If they had another girl, maybe their sanity could be restored.

"Guys?"

Brook turned to the call, but didn't hear any more. There was too much noise at the moment to process anything else.

"What's up, Brook?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, nothing. I thought I heard someone call out to us, far away." The skeleton laughed.

"That's… creepy."  
"Guys!"

"See! There it is again!" Brook shouted out, far louder than he had intended.

"What!?" Nami exclaimed. "What… now!?"

"I… don't hear anything, Brook." Chopper said. "You must be hearing things."

"Ah, but I don't have ears to hear from! Yohoho-ow!" His afro was being pulled on by Zoro. "Okay, we get it. Shut up now."  
"Brook's so funny, right, Frank- Franky?" The small reindeer turned around, not seeing the blue haired cyborg anywhere.

"Guys! Guys!"

"Franky?" Brook cocked his skull to the right.

"I found something weird in my basement!"  
Then, a scream that sounded funny, since it was so high pitched. Luffy tried to stifle his laugh.

Franky, embarrassed, climbed his way up to the deck of the Sunny. He had something in his hand, but it was only visible to people closer to him.

The Straw Hat pirates walked up closer to see what object Franky had to present to them.

"A fruit?" Luffy questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"Sorry, guys. I thought it was a bomb." Franky laughed nervously, and held out his hand to show it to the others. It was blue-strangely, almost clear-like- with a swirly design. It was the shape of a sphere with a part of the fruit caved in to make it look like Pac Man. It was a….

"It's a Devil Fruit." Zoro spoke up at last, and plucked it out from Franky's hands.

"WHAAAAATTTTT!?" Luffy cried in comical surprise.

"Ooohh, it would sell for big bucks." Nami smiled evilly with Beri eyes.

"Maybe we should sell it later, if we get to a good trading post!" Brook added, giving Nami a skeletal thumbs up.

Then, Zoro stood up, startling the other crew members. Nami asked, "What's up, Zoro? You look like you just saw a ghost."

It was evident that he must have, considering the extremely surprised and scared look he had on his face. But it was something else. Something… or someone.

Zoro turned to Luffy and Sanji, who were also alert and on their feet. "There's something out there, right?"  
"C-Come on, guys. We're in the middle of the ocean. There's no way-" Chopper started, and Usopp screamed.

"Could we be in Sea Monster territory!?" The long nosed man screeched. Zoro shook his head, his Haki more attentive to whatever was out there. "It's not a Sea Monster," He pulled out his treasured Wado. "It's something on a bigger scale."

"It's a… It's a…" Luffy put his hand to his chin, thinking extremely hard. In his mind was the sea as he tried to locate where all that energy was coming from.

But it was difficult, considering Luffy was a Devil Fruit user.

And, of course, since Devil Fruit users couldn't handle the ocean because of the sea water, Luffy's energy drained so quickly from using up his Haki while being intact with the water.

"Fine. I'll just try to get to it." Zoro rolled his eye at his hopeless captain.

"Why?" Nami asked, crossing her arms across her chest. The other Straw Hats had moved onto their normal activities.

"It might cause a danger to the Sunny. It might be a threat."

"We don't know what it is, Nami-san, so we should at least find out what… or who… it is," Sanji explained. Robin cracked open a soda as she was half focused on the book in one of her fraud hands as she was partially listening to the conversation they were having at the railing of the ship.

Zoro put all of his concentration on finding the location, at least, of this creature that presented so much power. He felt a few rings of force, but they were so scattered that he couldn't identify where this damned thing was.

"Nothing. It can't be close, so I guess we're safe for the time being." Zoro muttered.

Nami breathed out a sigh of relief as she plopped herself down on a nearby foldable chair. She started becoming more relaxed, as she had always done when danger was far away.

"Andddd…. Checkmate!" Chopper squealed, as Usopp groaned in agony once more. The scoreboard didn't look so great, since the doctor was ahead of the sniper by three hundred points.

"How!?" Usopp screamed to no one in particular, and Robin lifted her lips from her soda. "Well, he's a doctor, Usopp. He excels in math as well, so there's a great chance that he has good sense in planning." She analyzed.

"Can someone get me a refill!?" Nami hollered, and in zoomed Sanji from his kitchen to get his wonderful woman another drink of orange soda.

"Thank you, Sanji." She responded cheekily, winking flirtatiously.

Zoro closed his eyes as he leaned on the wooden mast of the Sunny. He wanted to desperately go to sleep, since he hadn't had a good night's rest in a while. But no such luck when you're on aboard a ship that contains a "no-rules" captain and three whiny babies.

Franky was back in the basement, looking around to see where this weird fruit came from. Maybe it appeared magically and out of nowhere. Maybe it was fate that it landed in the basement, where Franky and only Franky was. Maybe that was saying something.

He didn't know.

Then, he walked into another room compartment of the basement, the boiler room, and left the door before him ajar. He turned to view the room, and then his eyes widened.

"GUYS!" The cyborg rushed up to the deck, where everyone was. "We have… We have to get out of here! Now!"

"Wha-" Nami stood up. "Are you going to fart _again_!?"

"No! I'm serious!" Franky pointed to the basement entrance. "The boiler room has a hole in it. Water's leaking through!"

"FIX IT, THEN!" Nami screeched. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

"The water's going through a pipe. It's already pretty full. We're going to drown." Franky added. "And some of the wires down there are loose! If I tried to fix it as is, I might explode with the room."

"What do we do!?" Nami ran to the blue haired shipwright and pulled on the collar of his unbuttoned shirt violently. "I said, _WHAT DO WE DO_!?"

"Ow! Ow, _ow_! Okay! I don't know, alright!?"

Zoro, at this crucial moment, was sleeping.

Robin was also half asleep while still reading her book and now eating a sandwich. Ahh, daily things.

"We have to leave!?" Luffy asked. "No! I'm not abandoning the Sunny!"

Franky grabbed the Devil Fruit and threw it into the water. "It's all because of this stupid fucking thing!" The fruit ker-plunked into the sea with a satisfying splash, and while it did so, Franky ordered everyone around.

"People! We're in the time of crisis now! We're going to haul our asses, get our stuff, and move out with one of Sunny's vehicles!"

"Wait, that's in the basement." Robin reminded Franky.

"Fuck!"

"We're doomed!" Usopp moaned, clutching his curly hair with his fingers.

"W-We are!?" Chopper jolted and shivered in fear.

Everything was chaos on the Sunny.

It was a ship of complete mayhem, and people around the world were most likely able to hear their screams of curses and madness.

Well, Zoro was still sleeping. Didn't give a fuck where he was.

Just then, as Nami was shredding out Franky's hair, her legs locked around his neck and choking the life out of him, an enormous wave appeared, casting a black shadow across the entire ship.

"W-W-Woaaa-aah…" Brook put his hands up in defense. "We're going to die, we're going to die, we're all going to die."

"This is what we get for not hiring any level-headed men to the Sunny!" Nami turned to glance at Robin, the only other sane person on the ship, but was completely upset to find her reading peacefully, munching on a lovely sandwich.

Checkerboard pieces and a strips of lettuce went flying in the air as the wave was about to literally obliterate the Straw Hat Pirates.

Zoro was _still_ sleeping. Joy.

"Wait…" Usopp had his finger pointing to the top of the wave.

What was that.

What was resting on the layer of seafoam?

The Devil Fruit Franky had launched into the ocean a few minutes ago.

"I… I… I think I know how to fix all this!" Usopp stammered. Chopper perked up. "What is it?"  
"First things first." The long nosed pirate jumped up and punched Zoro's gut as he was snoring, waking the fuck out of him and also pulling out the strangest noise of disgust from the green haired man's vocal chords.

"Zoro, wakey-wakey!" Usopp screamed over the sound of the wave.

"Motherfucker, I'll kill youuu-ohhhhh…" Zoro looked at the large wave coming to destroy them.

"Get the little Devil Fruit on the top of the wave! It'll stop it and also our problem with the pipes and wires!" The sniper commanded.

"Really?" Franky and Nami both turned around to Usopp's words in surprise, while still grabbing onto each other's hair as they were fighting each other.

"Really!"

"No problem-" The swordsman started to bring out one of his swords, but Sanji was faster. Ditching his suitcase, he used his Sky Walk to run up to the wave. "Sharp sticks aren't going to get you anywhere for this job, shitty marimo."

"Did you just call my swords fucking-"

Grabbing the fruit was easy.

"There!" The cook signalled to Usopp, who caught the fruit that he threw.

"Alright!" Usopp cheered, and then ran into the basement, which was already pretty much flooded at this point.

Without the fruit, the wave had subsided to a small current kicking on the ship's side, and this surprised everyone because this made Usopp's theory partially correct.

"I can't believe that actually worked…" Robin commented disbelievingly, and Brook, who was watching the little show beside the archaeologist, snickered.

"Shut up, you guys! My ideas always work!" Usopp retorted from the boiler room.

"...This time…" Nami murmured.

Zoro and Sanji had followed the black haired man down to said room, Franky trailing behind, all three wondering what the liar was up to.

"Alright…" Usopp smirked. He then did something strange- if lifting up the Devil Fruit into the air and shouting out a make believe word, " _Rasengan_ ," was strange on the Sunny.

Nope, it probably wasn't. Nevertheless, it shocked the other three Straw Hat pirates as they watched Usopp make a complete fool out of himself.  
But what Usopp had done… actually worked.

All the water from the pipe that Franky was talking about, and also the water that was drowning the basement, was attracted to the fruit as pieces of jewelry would be to a magnet. The water was squeezed into the small Devil Fruit and after all of it was cleared from the ship, it made a satisfying "pop" sound.

"Franky! Fix the hole that the fruit made!" Sanji ordered the man standing behind all of them.

"Oh? Oh-Oh, yeah! Right! On it!" He made a dash to his tools, careful not to trample little Chopper who now arrived at the scene, just after Usopp had done… whatever he did.

"Wow! Usopp, did you fix this!?" Chopper clapped his hooves together in excitement.

"At this time, normally, a witness would call out that they had actually done it right after Usopp would wrongfully claim the good deed as his own." Robin walked up to Chopper.

"It was Usopp, actually." Sanji testified.

"Yep!" Usopp stood as if he accomplished a major feat, but once he realized what Robin had said, he went into a comical rage mode. "H-Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?"

Before anyone could speak up, Franky busted into the room and motioned everyone else to move out. "I gotta hole to fix, people!"

As they walked to the entrance/exit of the basement, Chopper asked Usopp, "So, how did you get all the water out?"

He held up the Devil Fruit. "I think this fruit is water-based. It seems to absorb the sea water easily, and it was probably the thing that started the storm."

"Wouldn't that be an ironic idea for a Devil Fruit? Since Devil Fruit users can't swim," Robin asked.

"I dunno. It seems like a really strong Devil Fruit, if it can absorb water, all by itself…" Usopp faltered to say any more.

"I've never seen a Devil Fruit, in its raw form, used as a weapon, that's for certain." The woman stated.

Robin, Chopper, and Usopp all went back upstairs. Zoro and Sanji started fighting along the way, as they climbed the ladder.

"Is everything okay down there? I heard shouting," Nami called out to her crewmates.

"Oh, no, everything's fine. We just fixed the problem." Usopp answered.

"Yes, Zoro and Sanji were just arguing once again." Robin giggled.

"Oh, so it _was_ you two again…" Brook muttered distastefully.

"Shut up." Zoro responded to the words Brook had uttered.

He should have kept his mouth shut because Zoro was in a particular mood that day, once he realized that something off was about this particular location.

And the swordsman wasn't about to have anything happen to the Sunny, much less anyone else in it.

* * *

After a fantastic dinner, the Straw Hat Pirates retreated to their rooms to get a good night's sleep. Well, they didn't know if it would be any good, though. Everyone was a little on edge after Zoro had made the statement that there might have been something dangerous lurking in these waters during the said dinner. But no one was really too bothered by his warning.

Of course, except for Zoro himself.

He did not, in fact, leave to his hammock to rest. Instead, he was sitting on the grassy deck of the Sunny, leaning on the wooden wall of the kitchen's exterior.

The vice captain began to take out his treasured katana and cleaned it gently, but also keeping a lookout on the horizon of the ocean.

If there was any kind of movement in the sea, Zoro's eye would twitch and he would stop cleaning.

There was something out there.

He knew it.

But what was it?

And for something of such a grand scale, why was it so hard to track down?

There were so many questions circulating through Zoro's head, and he eventually gave up thinking.

He would just clean his swords and keep watching the ocean, he thought, as he climbed up to the crow's nest of the Sunny. Thank God for Franky's renovation of the crow's nest. It was so luxurious now, and actually quite comfortable.

He fell asleep shortly after training.

He woke up again, scratched his head, and went downstairs from the crow's nest.

* * *

"Franky, we should really have separate rooms for everyone." Nami stated.

"Why? Are you and Robin fighting?"

"No, I just think that Robin and I have really different... " She glanced at Robin, who was gardening and watering really deathly looking plants. "...decoration ideas."

"Ah. I see." Franky's voice rumbled. "But, but, everyone? That's a lot of rooms." He added, "Plus, there might not be enough room to make each and every one of them a decent size for bedrooms."

"Well, I was thinking the same thing, too." Sanji agreed with the orange haired woman. "I don't want to sleep with these idiots anymore. I'd like a place that's more private and fit to my style."

"My own room sounds nice! I hate those hammocks. They always move around while the ship it rocking back and forth. It used to be relaxing, but now it's just annoying." Usopp whined.

"We don't have to have the rooms side by side, as well." Robin called from the upper deck. "Franky can place the rooms near the places we most frequently stay in, like Sanji's room should be close to the kitchen, and Usopp's room could be in the basement where he creates his machinery."

"Well, that's a pretty good idea, actually." Chopper agreed. "I wouldn't mind sleeping alone, to be honest. Luffy talks in his sleep and it's creepy."

"Hey!"

"It's true." The other male pirates synchronized.

It looked like mostly all were on board with the idea of separate rooms.

But not everyone was actually on board.

On the Sunny.

Someone was missing.

"Welllll… I _have_ been quite bored, since the past few islands didn't bring any trouble or inspiration for me to make super cool things." Franky scratched his chin. Then, he shrugged. "Yeah! I'll do it!"

"Yeaaaahhh!" Usopp cheered as Chopper was jumping up and down. "I wonder what my room will look like!"

"Pipe down, you morons. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." The cook took a blow of his cigarette.

"Huh?" Luffy looked around. "Where's Zoro?"

The rest of the Straw Hats also searched for him with their eyes.

"You're right. Where is he?" Nami asked. "Guys, let's look around. He might be lost again."

Everyone spread out, calling his name. The Sunny wasn't that big of a ship, but it was big enough for a directionally challenged moss head to actually feel lost.

"That's strange. The marimo's always the early one, and he always waits to eat on the deck." The blond pirate recalled.

"Every day." Robin added.

"Well, except for the times when he was on edge." Nami sighed. "He must be worried about that entire thing about last night _still_ ,"

"What about last night?" Robin looked up. She was holding her watering can and burying a few seeds in a clay pot.

"Well, he thought that there was something wrong with the water…" Luffy remembered. "He was like, 'there's something weird in the water.' And he got all scary." There was a pause.

In the water.

"...He's probably on the ship right now… right?" Nami asked nervously.

They all exchanged glances, knowing that it wasn't true.

"That… That moron!" She placed her hand on her forehead, turning to the blue ocean. "He jumped in, looking around for that thing, and he's probably lost! That's why he's not here now!"

"Nami-san, calm down... I'm sure he's fine… he couldn't have gone far…"

"'Couldn't have gone far?' Sanji, we gave him _all night_!"

"We gotta look for him," Luffy insisted. "There might really be something dangerous in the water right now."

"Huh?" Nami turned to her captain.

"Remember what Zoro said?" The straw hatted boy nudged the navigator. "That."

"Oh. Right."

At that moment, the Straw Hats heard splashing. Zoro was back, miraculously. He didn't seem to be hurt at all, just a little bit drained of his energy.

"Hah…" He panted in and out as he climbed up the ship. "Hah, ahhhHHAHUGGGH!"  
"Did you enjoy your little swim?" Nami asked, squeezing the swordsman's ear. Tightly.

"Sorry! I was looking around for the-"

"Sorry!? We were all worried sick about you!" Nami shrieked hysterically.

"Not me…" Sanji muttered, and Usopp caught the snarky comment, snickering.

"Well, did you find it?" Nami folded her arms across her chest. "What you were so desperately looking for?"  
"Hell no. I was up all night looking for something, but it was hazy." Zoro's hair was raked across with his fingers to get rid of excess water.

"Whaddaya mean, 'hazy?'" Luffy asked, but was cut off by more bickering, courtesy of Nami.

"All right, then we probably shouldn't worry about it too much." Robin confirmed. "If it was a living thing, it was probably some kind of sea creature group that presented a lot of power when they were all banded together. Otherwise, it had to be an object, since land creatures wouldn't have survived the ocean overnight."

"Is it still out there, though? I can't tell." Usopp held up an index finger questioningly.

"No. I can't sense anything, but it's probably because I'm too tired to do anything else than sleep." Sure enough, Zoro laid down on the deck and started to snooze away.

"My Haki isn't as powerful as Luffy's or the marimo's, and Luffy's useless right now. So, we'll just have to hope for the best." The cook muttered.

But then, his eyes widened, perking up. Zoro lifted his good eye from his peaceful slumber.

There was something off, and this time, everyone could tell.

"There's definitely something out there. Zoro was right!" Chopper exclaimed.

"And it's strong," Robin murmured, shuddering.

"It must be close if we can all sense it. I'm going to see what it is." Sanji rushed to the edge of the deck and hopped off. Franky mumbled a few curses under his breath and went back to the upper deck to stop the ship from going anywhere.

"Oh, god, I'm really nervous now," Usopp put his hands in his curly afro as he tucked himself into a corner of the Sunny.

"I hope Sanji doesn't die." Brook added simply, and everyone regarded the skeleton with disdain for the lack of worry he expressed. Well, besides Zoro, who had gone back to sleep.

"Does this mean that breakfast is gonna be late?" Luffy inquired to Nami. She rolled her eyes at the stupid boy.

Meanwhile. Sanji was underwater, his jump creating a splash of bubbles and pieces of plant residue scattering.

His eyes adjusted to the deep blue as he looked around, swishing his head sluggishly, and he was starting to think that maybe it really was just a band of octopuses.

He did a full circle around the Sunny, careful that at least one of his hands was always on the wood of the ship. The blond didn't want to lose sight of where he was, and keeping touch with the planks would be a good idea.

He couldn't find anything, or anyone for that matter.

Strange.

But then he realized that he hadn't even bothered to look below him.

'Of course,' Sanji muttered internally.

He looked down. And then sea-walked around the Sunny. The benefit to having strong legs was that it actually made the man more agile at sea.

And then, he cocked his head at something quite peculiar.

A cluster of bubbles was floating around, below and to the left of Sanji's body. He swam over to the area quickly, minding that he would run out of air soon.

As Sanji approached the weird bubbles, he noticed there was something… cased inside the bubbles. He made the water pearls scatter almost majestically (he didn't know why it seemed so magical to cause that action), and then, he wore the most shocked, scared expression he had ever held in a while, as he peered at the object being protected.

* * *

 **My writing's stupid**

 **Read and review pls?**


	6. Chapter 6: Discovering A Treasure

**Chapter 6: Discovering A Treasure**

* * *

A quick recap.

There was now a potentially dangerous Devil Fruit, possibly water-based, on the Sunny. Zoro had felt an evil presence, but couldn't find anything, so Sanji decided to go underwater and investigate instead. And the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates were left waiting for their lovely cook to resurface.

"Hmm… Maybe I should go down there to see if shitty cook's dead?" Zoro asked.

"Hell no. You're _grounded_." Nami spit out.

"What the fuck- What did I do!?"

"Nothing to _help us_!"

"I went out to see if there was danger lurking around and you're grounding me!?"

"You should have told someone if you were gonna go out! You're not exactly the most reliable person on the planet, you know."

"I am!" Luffy's chest swelled in pride.

"No."

The captain deflated in sadness.

Robin viewed the water from above, trying hard to avoid any splashes of the calm current slapping across the Sunny. There was only the shade of the ocean, dull and empty. There was no mysterious object, no presence of any powerful object, and most importantly, no Sanji.

Maybe Zoro was wrong. Maybe Sanji was looking around and it was time for him to come up, since there was nothing out there.

"Guys, I think someone should go get Sanji. I don't think there's anything out there." Robin murmured.

"Robin, how would _you_ know? You're a Devil Fruit User, so the water might be blocking you from receiving any kind of power." Zoro snapped.

"Well, I don't see Usopp or Franky speaking of anything," Robin pointed to the long nosed man and the cyborg, who were just laying around until Robin mentioned their names.

"They don't have Haki as strong as me or the cook."

"If the power's so strong, they should be feeling _something…_ " Brook muttered.

"Do you?" Robin and Zoro turned their heads to the two pirates, who flinched at the murderous, exasperated aura coming out from the both of them.

"Uhhh… Well, I _kinda_ get what Zoro's saying. I've been a bit unsettled ever since last night, when Zoro had that big announcement during dinner." Usopp bit his lip.

"Same. Robin, I'm pretty sure there's... something out there." The blue haired man nervously chimed in.

"Hm." Robin hummed, walking away.

"Where are you going?" Zoro asked.

"To protect my library, in case the powerful something comes to our ship before Sanji does."

And then all the Straw Hats heard a door slam shut.

"Was that sarcastic?" Luffy mumbled next to Nami.

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes, wondering why Robin was suddenly so angry all of a sudden. Usually, she was mature and never used sarcasm, but because of some petty reason and a knucklehead swordsman? Strange.

"Talk about salty…" Usopp groaned. "I don't want to deal with another Nami."

" _I heard that_."

And then, Sanji jumped out of the water, shirtless, and made a smooth landing onto the deck of the ship.

"Nice," Usopp made a thumbs up.

"Show off." Zoro mumbled.

But what everyone failed to notice sooner was that Sanji was carrying a large bundle in his arms, and the cloth covering whatever he was holding was actually his dress shirt.

"What's that, Sanji?" Luffy asked.

"It's… It's a girl…" Sanji dropped down onto the floor, probably drained of all his energy while trying to catch his breath. But he didn't collapse before gently setting down the bundle he was carrying.

Zoro flinched. 'I don't feel anything, though...' He rushed over to where Sanji had fell, ignored the cook, and then unwrapped the shirt.

What Sanji had said was surprisingly the truth. Inside the wet fabric held a young girl, definitely unconscious, with the most amazing navy blue hair.

"Oh, my god-" Nami clasped her hands over her mouth.

"What the-" Usopp and Luffy crawled over to see what Sanji had brought into the ship.

Chopper scampered into the area quickly, first making sure that Sanji was just tired, and then going over the strange girl.

"Guys, give room for Chopper!" Luffy whipped his arms all around so the rest would back off.

The reindeer checked the girl's pulse.

Then, her injuries. She had a lot of injuries.

Mumbling foreign medical words that even Robin would have trouble interpreting, Chopper then ordered Zoro, "Carry her into my office... and hurry!"

The swordsman abruptly stood up and then picked up the girl as if she was a bunch of grapes. He took her into the room and laid her out onto the checkup table.

The doctor took a second glance at the girl's body and was astounded and disgusted by the amount of gashes and bruises there could be on a single person.

"Someone bring Robin!" Chopper yelled, and Usopp was already on it.

Chopper didn't know what to do. This was the first time he had ever seen a patient like this. Analyzing the fact that Zoro had gone out for a far longer time than Sanji had was a given. So even in the night, how was it that Zoro could not find her? How long was she out there for? There were no ships within the peripheral view, and Franky double checked that. Was she possibly from a Sky Island? Was she dropped from some kind of air vehicle?

Was she in the ocean for a long time? But… that didn't make sense. She couldn't have survived in the waters for that long. And if Sanji hadn't found her floating around, the girl must have been located at the deep parts of the sea.

What was up with this girl?

But her body was a completely different issue.

There were scars and bits of dried blood all around her face and limbs. She was wearing a flimsy dress that was drenched and worn down to the point where it was almost transparent. So the doctor could clearly see the injuries orbiting her stomach and thighs.

She was missing two fingers, and a pinky finger was swollen in a black-ish, purple-ish shade.

She had a head injury that laced from her left ear to her left eyebrow, and her collarbone looked mangled.

There was a lot of blood that went through the waist of the girl's dress. There was something wrong there, too.

Her feet were no exception, either. Bloodied toes and grimy nails. Everything about this girl was pain. Pain, pain, pain.

This was probably one of the worst kinds of injuries Chopper had ever seen. He didn't know where to start, what to fix first. He was overwhelmed.

Just as he was about to fall on the floor in confusion, Robin came into the room calmly. "Is there something wrong, Chopper?"

"H-Here… Please help m-me..!" The small reindeer stuttered.

"Oh, my goodness." The archaeologist stared at the patient. "What do you need help with first?"

"I think we need to patch up her stomach. Her head injury we'll finish second, and then we have to do something about her collarbone…" Chopper ran his hoof through his furry head. "There's too much to do, Robin! What do I do!?" He whipped his head toward the woman, who smiled warmly at Chopper.

"It's alright, Chopper. This girl will be alright. I'll help you, don't worry."

Robin's words never, ever failed to calm the doctor down.

But he was still quite nervous. The girl was at the brink of death. Although there was nothing wrong with her pulse, her injuries made her life a thin string waiting to be snipped off by fate.

After everything was done (as in, Chopper and Robin as the assist did all they could do to save her), Chopper sat at the main chair for his desk while Robin plopped on a waiting room sofa, exhausted and sweaty.

"I… I don't understand…" Chopper muttered.

"How did she get so injured? Surely, she couldn't have been in the water for too long…" The raven haired woman thought out loud.

"No, that's a big mystery, too. But…" Chopper rubbed his forehead. "She has a lot of scars that were probably years old. Her thumb and index finger wouldn't have been decapitated by the water, no matter how strong the currents were. And if she'd run into a sea creature, I think they wouldn't just leave with a finger…"

Robin looked at the troubled reindeer and looked back at the wall in front of her. "When she wakes up…"

" _If_ , Robin. We've tried our best, but she lost a lot of blood during the procedure. Maybe she won't live-"

" _When_ she wakes up, we can ask her about everything." Robin reached out to soothingly touch Chopper's cheek. "Don't worry. This girl will be just fine, since we ave an amazing miracle worker on our ship,"

Chopper's eyes widened. "Really? Who!?"

Robin laughed. "I was talking about you, silly."

Chopper grinned at what she said, but couldn't bring himself to be too happy. Robin noticed this immediately as the reindeer's eyes were flashing with worry.

"I hope so." He said finally, and Robin smiled back, hoping to peel off the concerned look in the small doctor's eyes.

Just then, Luffy bustled in.

Joy.

"Let me see!" He whined. "Lemme see the girl!"

Chopper blocked the way. "No! She's not awake! The slightest movement could kill her!"

Luffy pouted. "But I wanted to see the girl…"

Robin walked up to the captain and patted his back. "When she wakes up, you can see her."

"But…!"

"Please, Luffy. Respect the doctor's wishes."

Luffy, with an irritated look on his face, stormed away.

Usopp roped an arm around the rubber man's neck, joyfully laughing. "Hey, Luffy! Sanji woke up!"

"Yesss! That means we can eat now~!" The two joyfully skipped around.

But when they started jumping, Usopp's front pocket came loose. With impeccable timing, Luffy decided to use his Devil Fruit's abilities to rocket into the sky, giving them a couple laughs before they descended. And that was when the fruit popped out, in midair.

Usopp, fortunately, noticed this.

Unfortunately, he did not reach out to grab it.

"Luffy! The fruit!" Usopp groaned as he pointed into the air, where the fruit was dropping slowly to the ship.

"I got it!" Luffy grinned stupidly and then reached out for the Devil Fruit.

But he reached a bit too far.

The fruit bounced off the boy's head and quickly tumbled into the kitchen…

The deck…

And then, the little hospital.

It stopped at Robin's feet.

As Usopp and Luffy started to search for the fruit, Robin picked it up from the floor and frowned. "I thought Usopp was keeping this. How did it get here?"

"What is it, Robin?" Chopper asked.

They were recently, still speaking about the girl and arguing about her injuries.

Robin showed Chopper the Devil Fruit she picked up and Chopper perked up. "Isn't that…"

"Yes. The Devil Fruit." The archaeologist smiled. "Ah, I had completely forgotten that we had a Devil Fruit aboard the Sunny. All this madness in two days really-"

"Wait." Chopper grabbed the fruit out of Robin's hands.

At that moment, Usopp stumbled into the room, Luffy following.

"Usopp! You told us that this fruit had some kind of water ability, right?"

"Well, yeah. At least, that's what I think's the base of the fruit, at least…"

"What if…" Chopper murmured. "What if it was possible for the wielder of the fruit to transform into water? Wouldn't all their former and internal injuries become fully healed? If the Devil Fruit is a certain type, then it has the ability..."

After a moment of hesitance in the air, Robin finally understood what Chopper was getting at, unlike the two other boys standing in the room, who were completely clueless.

"Chopper, this is too wild of a theory." The raven haired woman responded curtly. "First of all, it might not work. And don't forget, this girl could be a potential threat as a status that we do not know of. She could be a Marine."

"But-"

"Even if she wasn't a Marine, she could still meld into something dangerous with the advantage of the fruit." Robin interrupted.

"It could work, though. It's a plausible-" Usopp tried to comment, but was cut off.

"No. It won't work. And you forgot one thing, Chopper." Robin turned to face Chopper once more. "What if she already has a Devil Fruit manifested inside her body already?"

The doctor's eyes widened, as did Usopp and Luffy's.

"That could lead to even further damage. It's actually very likely, since she was at the bottom of the ocean. And anyway, even if I'm wrong, no matter what happens, she would lose the ability to swim."

There was more silence, followed by a cough from Luffy. "Well, Robin, you might be right." The rubber man stated.

"Chopper's idea is thoughtful and creative… Really considerate to the girl… Whatever her name is." Usopp added. "But… there are just too many holes… too many 'what if's' that we can't ignore."

The reindeer had his small head down in sadness. It was true, Robin was right about everything. It would be a threat to the girl, and it might be a threat to them.

But they weren't even going to give it a try? They would just reject the idea so quickly?

"...As I was saying… Robin, you may be right…" Luffy cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "But I think it's worth a shot."

"Really, Luffy? Did you not hear about the new bestseller, '101 Reasons Why Feeding The Stranger Girl The Devil Fruit Is A Bad Idea,' published by Nico Robin?" Usopp cocked his head to the side.

"I don't read." Luffy said in 100% seriousness.

"I don't think Luffy _can_ read," Nami walked in with an indifferent expression on her face.

"Rude!" Luffy shrieked. "Shanks taught me the alphabet!"

"I overheard everything." The ginger haired woman ignored Luffy. "And for the record, I'm siding with Robin in this situation. Chopper, it really does seem risky to be giving something so precious as a Devil Fruit to this… this girl that we don't even know."

"But…"

"I know that you want to save her… But it's not worth it. She'll probably heal up in no time because of your amazing skills." The navigator reminded him. "And it's probably for the better. For us, and for the girl."

"Yeah, I don't think we should feed her anything without her permission… and we can't really do that until she wakes up." The sniper crossed his arms.

"We're better off selling this fruit. It'll settle our finances and that problem'll be done aaaand done." Nami smiled cheekily.

"...Okay." Chopper murmured weakly after a breath of silence. "I understand."

* * *

Zoro was in the crow's nest during the operation, the patching up, and the entire talk the others had about the devil fruit issue. He was, obviously, training.

Damn that girl. She'd shown up at such a crucial time for the Straw Hats. It would have been an entirely different story if she'd shown up… actually awake.

If she was, they would be able to question her, and Chopper and the others wouldn't have to worry about her at all.

Zoro was reminded of all the scars and injuries the girl had on her limbs and face. It was outrageous. Since the ragged dress was covering her body, he could only imagine how bad it was there, as well.

What had caused her to receive all those injuries? The swordsman was sure that everyone else was wondering the same thing, as well.

"Zoro, I brought you your dinner." Robin climbed up the crow's nest, a faux hand poking through the floor door and holding the food.

"Oh, thanks." He gratefully took the tray of meat and rice on the side, cooked and seasoned perfectly. He expected no less from Sanji, no matter how much he hated the bastard.

"You know, you could have just brought it up with your powers,"

"I did."

"And you also came up here. Here to apologize?"  
"For what, hurting your feelings?" Robin replied snarkily. The comeback surprised even Zoro, but he hid his shock from the woman.

"Well, you _did_ get to protect your library." Zoro said quietly. Robin chuckled at that.

"So, did you have any concerns with the new girl?" After a brief moment of silence, this was the opening line, coming from the archaeologist.

"Nah. Just how she had a lot of wounds."

"I was thinking about that, too." Robin put a hand to her chin in thought. "Maybe she was being abused."

"Well, she could have gotten all the injuries from her time spent in the ocean. Maybe some kind of animal attacked her. And the current's not exactly merciful, either."

"But most of the blood on her body is all dried. Her injuries are closed up, and she had two fingers missing, which isn't really something that's caused by just water." Robin reminded Zoro.

"Well, I guess this all remains a mystery until the girl wakes up."

" _If_ she wakes up. I told Chopper that she would make it… without a doubt, I'm not so sure anymore."

The green haired man turned his head to Robin. "Hm? What makes you think that way?"

"She's in a terrible condition. Her rib is broken and she already lost a lot of blood. I honestly don't think she'll make it." The black haired woman stated.

"And we're not even sure if we should be saving her. She could be a spy. Or a Marine-"

"That's not the issue here, Zoro. The issue is that she might _die_." Robin interrupted, irritated by how Zoro's concerns for this young girl were nonexistent. "You don't care at all about that?"

"...No, not really. Besides, do you care?"

"I care about whether she lives or dies. This is a young girl we're talking about."

"We don't know her. If she lives, we'll ditch her on the next island anyway." Zoro placed his hands underneath his head and leaned back lazily.

'A heartless man,' Robin thought. "Finish your dinner and go down the crow's nest to the kitchen to put back the dishes."

"Fine."

* * *

In the morning, Chopper was woken to a scream.

"Chopper, get your ASS down here!"

That was definitely Nami's voice.

What Nami wanted to show him was the girl. She was still on the bed of the small doctor's office, but there was obviously something different.

Oh, I don't know, for one thing, there was blood _everywhere_. The office was a mess, and the bed was stained in crimson. It was coming from that stomach injury, the broken rib that Chopper was most worried about.

And the other thing was that the girl was convulsing horribly. She was jerking around and her eyes were clamped shut. With all the racket, Luffy and Zoro also hurried to the scene.

"What's going on!?" Luffy demanded an answer. Everybody turned to Nami.

"I-I was just passing by to get some bre-breakfast… I thought Sanji was up…" She paused to look at the blue haired girl. "I passed by the doctor's office to see her like _this…_ "

"She's gonna die." Chopper muttered monotonously. "She's gonna die, and I'm not a good enough doctor to do anything about it,"

"Stop it! You did the ultimate best you could do." Luffy pumped his fist. "And if that wasn't enough, then I'll help you."

"No… No, we have to resort to the last option." Chopper mumbled out.

"The Devil Fruit." Luffy clarified. "I agree with Chopper."

"Woah, woah, hold on. What are you guys talking about?" Zoro asked. "You don't mean you're gonna give her something that'll make her powerful… right?"

"Oh, forget it! Are we really arguing over something trivial like this while someone is _dying_!?" Chopper shrieked.

"I also agree with Chopper." Nami added. "We should give the girl the chance she needs." Everyone was in a mode of panic as people fidgeted and walked around in circles, trying to ignore the spasming girl on the hospital bed.

"But you were so keen on selling it," Zoro stated. Fucking Zoro.

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore! This girl's younger than any of us, from the looks of it!" Nami yelled. "She has her entire life ahead of her, and this Devil Fruit is the only chance she'll get."

Chopper grabbed the fruit off his desk- it had been resting there since the discussion about it the day before. "We need to chop it up into small pieces so she can eat it easily."

"Oh. Okay." Zoro said. He took out his sword and sliced up the fruit into thin strips, and then cut those strips in half.

"Ewww, you used those things to _kill_ people!" Nami gagged.

"It doesn't matter," Zoro muttered. "She just needs to live, right? I clean my blades all the time, anyway."

Luffy watched as Chopper opened the girl's mouth to give her the slices of Devil Fruit. She was hacking at the first few bits, but unconsciously continued on eating up the bits until half of it was gone.

"That should do it," Luffy said. "I heard that you only need to eat a bite or somethin'. Devil Fruits are nasty, so don't make her take in all of it."

"Alright," The reindeer mumbled.

The convulsions had ceased a few moments after force feeding the girl the fruit.

"It's working!" Luffy squealed excitedly.

"No, you bimbo. It could mean that her body has no more energy to do _anything_ any longer. She could be _dead_." Nami spat out seriously.

"Check her pulse," Zoro commanded Chopper. He nodded and picked up a limp hand.

"She's still alive, but her pulse is faint. It could mean that she's malnutritioned, and her injuries are still pretty bad. Maybe giving her the Devil Fruit wasn't the best idea."

"You gave her the Devil Fruit?" Robin was at the door.

"Ah! Robin," Nami perked up. "She was convulsing, so we had no choice."

"I guess it was the only choice they had to save her." Zoro shrugged.

"I see," Robin hummed. "Well, if anything bad happens, it wasn't my fault." She walked away, clearly showing disinterest.

"Huh, she left without a fight." Luffy said in surprise.

"She's probably not going to ask us about the girl anymore." Zoro added. "Hell, when the girl wakes up, she's probably going to treat her like _air_."

"I wouldn't be too sure… Since Robin's so mysterious and devious." Nami sighed.

"Oh… It's still early in the morning. Go back to rest for a little longer until breakfast, guys. I'll watch over her." Chopper rubbed his eyes and grinned.

"Oh, alright." The redhead smiled back. "We'll have you rest after we go get some shut-eye for a while."

Nami, Zoro, and Luffy all left the room, and the office became so much more spacious for Chopper. He felt like he could let out a breath of air.

The doctor went up from his seat, jumped down, and changed the sheets off the girl's hospital bed, carefully avoiding any physical contact with her. He made sure to put the dirtied cloth into the hamper, and before he did so, he checked the girl's temperature, heart rate, pulse, and body. After cleaning up, he checked up on the blue haired girl once more.

Normal.

Strange, considering how bad her condition was a few minutes ago.

The girl's clothes were a basic set of pajamas, borrowed from Nami, and although they were dirtied with blood around the back and stomach area, there was no way Chopper was changing her, even though there were a fresh set of duplicate pajamas Nami had so kindly put out just for her.

However, the reindeer did peek a little- just to the stomach area, though- to make sure that her injury was fine.

Where there should have been thirty five stitches slashing through her torso was clean skin, kind of covered in a bit of dried blood.

"Wait, whaaaa…?" Chopper lifted the other side of the shirt to see if maybe he was going crazy and the injury was actually on the other side of her stomach all along.

Nothing.

The reindeer rubbed his eyes and slapped himself. He then checked again.

No stitches.

'I-Is this… Is this the Devil Fruit!?' He screamed in his mind.

Chopper also checked the patch job done on the girl's collarbone, as well.

Nothing. Her skin was spic and span, no threading done whatsoever.

'This is impossible…' Chopper thought. 'What kind of Devil Fruit would have water powers without even a vessel, and when the vessel swallows it, it becomes a healing fruit!? Is that even _possible_!?'

"Guys, guys, guuuysss! Wake up! Wake up, wake up!" Chopper screamed at the top of his lungs and ran to the bedrooms, pounding on the doors. He knew it wasn't a good idea to leave the girl by herself, but she would live, and if she recovered all her energy, he didn't know if he could fight her alone.

"I was just getting back to sleep!" Nami groaned.

"Me too!" Luffy moaned.

"I-I-I…"

"Chopper?" The two Straw Hats asked simultaneously.

"They're all gone."

"What's all gone?" Robin rushed to the scene after hearing Chopper's voice.

"T-They're all gone."

The archaeologist created a fake hand to lightly slap Chopper's cheek. "Chopper, we have no idea about what you're saying. Please, come back to your senses.

"The girl's injuries are all gone!" Chopper exclaimed, facing Robin's direction.

"Gone?" Luffy asked. "Could it be…"

"...Because of the Devil Fruit?" Robin finished.

"Come on, let's go check up on her." Nami nudged Luffy's shoulder and disbelievingly walked up to the office.

"You think I'm lying, right!? Look, look! I'm telling the truth!" Chopper scurried to the front of the line of his crewmates and opened the door with haste.

There the mystery girl was, in the bed, sleeping soundly without a single scratch on her body.

"I-I-" Nami was bewildered, along with everyone else present, even Chopper, who had already seen this.

Robin walked up to the body and lifted the sheets on top of the girl. Since she was still previously bleeding, Nami's pajama pants were dirtied just a bit, and her two hands were coiled by the fingertips, as if her hands were chained together.

The raven haired girl pried open one of her hands as Nami and Chopper flinched at the action.

"Look, her fingers are back, too!" She lifted the limp arm up for the others to see.

"No way!" Chopper, when he presumed it was safe, rushed to where Robin was standing and double checked to make sure Robin wasn't lying.

She wasn't.

The girl's long, slender fingers were soft and flawless, not a single cut or wound in sight. This didn't apply only to her hands, but literally everywhere to be seen.

"Oh, my God." Nami put a hand over her mouth in shock. She had seen the girl's condition before and she knew how bad said girl's injuries were. This was just incredible, an amazing feat.

"Wait, but wasn't the fruit water based, or something like that? Why is it suddenly healing her?" Luffy pointed out, and Chopper shook his head. "That's what I was wondering about, too…"

"What happened, Chopper?" Robin interrogated the reindeer.

"Well, I was putting stuff back to the laundry… And then I came back to see this!" Chopper shrieked hysterically. "I even checked up her temperature, her pulse… everything! It was all cured, like some magic was cast on her!"

"Something definitely must have happened during that time you were in the laundry room, then…" Robin put a finger to her chin.

"I swear, I was gone for only a few seconds!" Chopper blurted out with wide eyes.

"But that's the only theory,"

"But…!"

"Guys, let's calm down for now." Nami said. "Maybe this fruit has something special behind it. Maybe some other dude who owned the Devil Fruit had an ability to make the fruit withstand stuff like water… for some weird reason. And _maybe_ this fruit is just a self-healing type of fruit. This is all plausible, but we can only find out if we wait for her to wake up and show us herself." She grinned. "Besides, we already have two questions answered now. One, she hasn't swallowed a Devil Fruit yet. Two, since she hasn't swallowed a Devil Fruit, we know that this fruit we just gave her has something to do with self-healing."

"Oh, and three, she wasn't in the water because she didn't know how to swim." Robin added. "So either she was forced to drown there by someone else, or the waves knocked her unconscious. And by the looks of her clothes, she doesn't look like she has a pretty story to tell."

Silence washed over them. Man, Robin really knew how to darken the mood.

"Ohhh-kay!" Nami clapped cheerfully to release the tension. "I think we just need the girl to sleep a little more, and then she'll wake up sooner or later!"

"Yeah... " Luffy half-smiled at the girl and then at Nami, turning to exit through the door rather quietly. In fact, everyone got out of the room not uttering any other words to themselves or each other.

* * *

A few hours had passed since Chopper's latest discovery on the girl's healing techniques. Everyone was on edge after he had announced the happenings, some of the Straw Hats wondering if it really _was_ a bad idea, taking the mystery girl in.

The Log Pose had been malfunctioning since last night, but it finally seemed back to business, directing Nami to the west side until they reached a city island, where there would be many resources to stock up on.

But the Straw Hat gang was broke, thanks to Luffy and his fat-ass stomach.

"Ughhh, we need to supply on cola," Franky shriveled into the ground.

"And fans," Usopp whined.

"And materials for the separate rooms for all y'all." The shipwright continued.

"Cola is the main item for now… We can get the fans later." Nami put her hands to her hips. "And as for the rooms, we'll leave all that up to you, Franky." She smirked.

"Just make my room the biggest. Oh, and I also want a balcony."

"A fucking what?" Franky hissed as he was still slumped on the deck.

"Can you make my room soundproof?" Robin asked. "But so that I can't hear what's going on outside, but you all can hear me."

" _That_ I can do." Franky said. "For the balcony, Nami, you need to be stationed somewhere more far away from your workplace."

"Fine." Nami smiled sweetly. "It's just that, I've always wanted a balcony, ever since I saw the Sunny. I thought it would be nice to, you know, enjoy the air."

"You can enjoy the air here," Franky deadpanned, clearly trying to avoid any unnecessary building or extra additions.

"Nahhh, I'd rather enjoy the air _elegantly_." Nami corrected. "Just- Ahh, forget it, you wouldn't understand."

"Excuse me, _I like elegance_!" The cyborg defended in a rather posh sounding voice.

"When we reach the island, I'll stay in the ship." Zoro decided, suddenly gripping his sword. "I'll watch over the girl."

"...No, I have a bad feeling you'll throw her overboard…" Luffy muttered. He then pushed Robin lightly towards the green haired man's direction. "Robin will supervise you."

"Ahhh!?"

"I really don't want to…" The archaeologist spoke up, but Luffy was wasn't listening to his crew members' opinions. "Perfect plan! The rest of us will go to the island and stock up."

"Well then," Usopp breathed in. "It seems that for once, Luffy is acting more like a captain and less like that thirteen year old uncle you have in every family."

"Hahaha, very funny Usopp." Luffy spat out sarcastically, but his face lit up. "A new island, and a city island at that!"

"Does that mean there would be a lot of panties!?" Brook yelped.

"No!" Nami hissed.

And the day continued on like that.

Approximately four hours later, the Sunny docked at the shore of the city island where all the guys were handsome and all the girls were beautiful, almost like a picture perfect island. The ones leaving hopped off while Zoro and Robin waved nonchalantly at the happy bunch.

"Would people recognize them?" Zoro wondered out loud.

"Mmm, probably." Robin answered, hopefully not thinking about what would happen if any of her friends got caught.

"I'll go watch the girl," After a long and awkward silence, Zoro walked away, his swords tapping the ground gently as he took each step.

"Don't kill her," She called out, in which the swordsman indignantly grunted.

Robin settled herself down near the railing of the Suny where she could keep watch of any passing ships (that could be Marine ships) or any person who looked strange. She took out a book and let a phantom eye control the lookout as she sipped some chamomile tea.

"Oi, Robin, do you wanna help me with the-" Zoro walked out of the medical room and deadpanned at the sight of Robin's comfort.

"What? What's wrong?" Robin set her book on the floor of the deck and placed her tea on top of the cover while she dispersed her lookout eye.

"I'm cleaning up the dried blood from the girl, but I can only do the limbs and the face." He scratched his head.

"Oh, that's right. No one thought about cleaning the blood." The raven haired beauty stood from where she was so comfortably sitting and followed Zoro into Chopper's office.

The girl was sleeping soundly on the patient bed, her breath steady and her chest moving up and down in normal intervals. Since the woman had read dozens of books on medical practice, she knew the basics of a checkup. Along with all her observations, she let Zoro observe as she examined her heartbeat with her hand, her pulse, her eyes, and her mouth.

Everything was perfect.

"Great, she seems to be healed wonderfully. All we need to do is wait for her to wake up." Robin clapped her hands together. The swordsman handed her a wet towel so she could dab off all the blood underneath the girl's clothes, along with any grimy areas.

"Thank you, now go outside and watch over the Sunny."

"'Kay."

He left pretty quickly.

"Okay, now that he's gone, let's get you cleaned up." Robin smiled at the still slumbering girl. She took off her shirt and then her loose pajama pants, starting to wipe off all the dirty areas, being careful of any scar or injury that the girl's healing powers forgot to cover.

Robin heard clanging, and then an energetic voice squabbling with a more grumpy voice.

'Franky's back, apparently,'

And then, finally, after almost a hypothetical century, something phenomenal happened.

The slightest noise made the dark haired woman flinch. There was a groan, "Mn," that was common for most people when they first woke up.

Robin swiftly turned around to see the girl, her eyes narrow and opaque in sadness and drowsiness, her stature unaware and extremely relaxed. She looked down so that the archaeologist couldn't view her eyes, and then she started rubbing them. And then she looked up with her eyes wide and alert.

Her hair swept below her shoulders and all the way to the middle of her back. Although it wasn't exactly curly, it wasn't straight and flowed off her head like waves in the ocean.

Her body was slouching, but all the right curves were in all the right places. She was lean and fit. The perfect model body.

Her skin was radiant, almost ten times more than when she was sleeping. It was paler than the archaeologist's own skin, but a bit darker than Nami's.

Her face was petite, but her brows were slightly furrowed and her lips were brought to a small line in an almost fierce way.

However, the most important feature about the girl was her eyes.

Brown was respectably a very dull, boring color. It didn't look intriguing on anyone, and Robin was one of the lucky ones to be born with blue eyes. However, the mystery girl managed to take brown orbs and transform them into dark pieces of chocolate gold. The way she looked directly at Robin made her believe those eyes were made of warm pools of honey, and the archaeologist found herself thinking about drowning into it. And maybe it was the light reflected from the windows, but Robin almost saw little tints of various colors in her eyes, an almost hallucinating vision. Sometimes, blue would overpower the girl's eyes, almost matching her hair, and she would immediately turn into a thriving, wild ocean.

There was also something about her that resembled someone Robin knew. She couldn't put her finger on it, though.

Robin almost stumbled back at how alluring this girl was.

She looked human, physically, but the aura she produced made the raven haired woman believe that she was looking at some alien specimen. No one could be that gorgeous.

No…

It was almost like she was a Goddess.

* * *

 **Please read and review! Tankyou**


	7. Chapter 7: Introductions And Enemies

**Chapter 7: Introductions And Enemies**

* * *

 **This story hasn't been active at all, I apologize...**

* * *

The first thing Misaki noticed was that she was moving.

No, not her body, but the room she was in, was moving. So she assumed that she was on a ship. It made sense, too, as Misaki had gotten into a shipwreck.

Additionally, she felt different. Rejuvenated. Kind of... filled with energy and a warm feeling. The room she was in looked like a doctor's office, the walls made of wooden planks and the whole place kind of quaint and snug, but it was also comfortable and an unusual feeling- something entirely different from the basement in Sentorappu Island or her most recent experience staying in the ratty traveling ship.

"Where am I?" This was the first question she asked. Misaki was still dizzy from her long slumber and she couldn't see clearly, blinking a few times. She was trying to think of possible outcomes and assumptions about exactly where she was and what would happen to her.

Robin was speechless for a moment. The girl was so enticing, it made looking at her difficult.

"Where am I?" The latter asked a bit clearer and louder, holding her hand into a tight fist.

Before Robin could yell for anyone, Zoro came bounding in, looking disheveled and hurried. "I heard a different voice. Is she..." He didn't finish his sentence because he stopped to take a breath.

"She-She's awake." Robin said. "Where's Franky?"

"He's not on the ship right now, and he went to buy more materials." Zoro explained, the two of them completely ignoring the girl.

"Hey!"

They abruptly stopped and stared at the girl. Robin, who was already experienced, forgot to warn Zoro about the girl's beauty.

"Where am I? Who are you two?" Misaki clenched her fists while holding onto the sheets of her bed.

And so, as he took one look at her, he looked very taken aback, but covered the surprise up by clearing his throat and slamming a hand on Chopper's work desk. "Look, we ask the questions here."

Robin's guess was that Zoro's concentration and resolve was stronger than her own, so it was fairly obvious that he could recover from such shock, and at a much quicker rate than Robin could. The archaeologist had mixed feelings about this.

"Who are you?" Robin asked.

There was a quiet heave of a breath, and then a shaky puff out. "...My name is Misaki. I came from Sentorappu Island, and I was in a shipwreck."

Zoro raised an eyebrow, which didn't go unnoticed.

"I'm telling the truth," Misaki added quickly.

"No, I believe you. But I think you're leaving something out," The swordsman cocked an eyebrow suspiciously. "Why were you in a shipwreck in the first place? Why were you wearing rags as clothes when we first found you? How were you able to survive in the sea for so long when we hadn't even given you that Devil Fruit yet?"

"Devil Fruit? You gave me a Devil Fruit?" Misaki perked up at that phrase, ignoring all the other previous sentences. Before the man could retort, Robin interrupted. "Yes, we did. I'll tell you what happened… everything."

"I'll listen."

'We're moving at a pretty fast pace here,' Zoro thought, looking back at Misaki. 'She seems controlled and composed, so much to the point where it's freaky. Any normal person would be screaming at this point, but she doesn't even want time alone. She just gets down to business right away.' He leaned on a rolling chair. 'Let's see what we can get out of her.'

Robin began the story. "One of our comrades found you at the bottom of the ocean, covered in pearls and bubbles. He took you back up to the ship and you were terribly injured. Previously, we had retrieved a Devil Fruit… a fruit with-"

"It's okay. I know what a Devil Fruit is, so you don't have to explain it to me." Misaki interjected calmly with a slight raise of her hand. "Sorry, continue."

"Ah, okay. So, we didn't know what kind of Devil Fruit it was, but at first, we believed it to have water-based abilities, since before you swallowed it, it had to ability to control the sea."

"Do Devil Fruits normally do that? I thought the power was manifested once the vessel swallowed it." Misaki asked.

"We don't know." Robin answered. "It just seemed to have the ability to control the water, in a peculiar way. So, we gave it to you, hoping that it would do something better for you. We knew there were risks involved… But we still tried. Later on, we discovered that rather than water abilities, the fruit has healing abilities."

"What? Really?" Misaki asked.

"But after we realized, you still hadn't woken up. It's been around a few hours since the healing occurred." Robin informed her.

"By the way, why were some of your fingers missing before the healing?" Zoro added.

"T-That…" Misaki shut her mouth before she could say anything stupid and cleared her throat to compose herself. "That's something else. I got into an accident, which caused me to lose a few fingers. But I really appreciate your kindness. Are you tourists? Journeyers?"

"Actually, we're pirates!" Franky busted into the room, a long piece of sanded wood covering his face. Misaki looked startled by the man's size, but more so about the fact that they were pirates.

"You are… pirates?" Misaki asked. "Then why did you rescue a stranger?"

"Because you were on the brink of death and believe it or not, we're actually still human." Zoro replied snarkily. Robin side-glanced Zoro and chuckled. "Well, most of us, anyway."

When Franky let the wood down to take a look at the girl, he fell in shock. "Aaaaaww! She's so gorgeous!"

"Yeah, how are you so… like that?" The swordsman asked. "I've never seen someone who looks... like..."

"Like what?" Misaki asked. "Oh, you mean my appearance. I don't understand why people are like that whenever they see my face." She brushed the topic off by saying nothing else.

"Well, you're extremely beautiful! My name is Franky!" He let Misaki shake his Mini hand.

"Thank you. My name is Misaki,"

"I'm Robin, and this here is Zoro." She added. Misaki nodded in response.

"So, where are you from again? Sentorappu Island?" Zoro asked.

"Yes. Do you know if I can get there?" Misaki responded politely.

"We've never gone there. It must be on another route, would be my guess." Franky suggested, leaning on a nearby wall.

"Well, you'd have to ask our navigator about it first. She knows about all the islands we're headed to, and neither of us know about that island." Robin explained. "But don't worry. Since we're docked, we're not going anywhere, and when Nami comes back, you can ask for help from her."

"Oh, thank you very much." Misaki said. "How many people does your crew have?"

"Nine," Zoro stated. "If you count a dead person and an animal."

"Huh?" The girl wondered confusedly out loud.

"But I'm still curious. Are you really not going to tell us why you were so badly injured from before? Were you a burn victim? Were you-"

"Cut it out, Zoro, she'll get overwhelmed." Robin put an arm before Zoro's eyes so he was blocked from gazing at the navy blue haired girl. "She's probably a lot younger than us, too. How old are you?"

"I'm thirteen." Misaki replied.

"Thir-!" Zoro flinched. "You look older," he deadpanned.

"That's rude, Zoro." Robin reprimanded him.

"Whatever."

"I don't mind." Misaki sighed. "However, thank you for giving me treatment and the Devil Fruit. I'm sure you were being very kind, but I feel bad, since I might be acting hostile and suspicious."

"Yeah, Devil Fruits come at a cost in most marketplaces. They're the very things that give you power. Feel lucky that both you and the fruit fell upon our hands, and not some other pirate crew." Zoro spoke coldly, but Misaki didn't seem to mind the harsh treatment. It was strange at how nonchalant and indifferent she was acting about the whole situation, Robin thought. She shockingly seemed comfortable, in some ways, but that obviously wasn't the case.

"Why not? Are you a spy?" Zoro asked.

"What? No, of course not! I just woke up." Misaki protested immediately, her hair bouncing around furiously.

"Is that your full name? Misaki?" Robin interrupted the argument between the two. Franky had already stolen away to the outside of the Sunny, working on the upgrades he and Nami planned.

"No, I'm sure I have a last name. But I don't know what it is." Misaki murmured. "My parents died when I was born."

Silence.

"I'm… sorry."

Misaki looked down, but her forlorn expression only stood out for a moment. "It's alright."

"Do you have any family? Friends? Or anyone we can contact so you can go back home?" Robin questioned. "What _can_ you tell us?" The archaeologist sat on the patient's bed, next to Misaki, who jumped at the sudden action and inched away.

"I..." Misaki looked as if she were deep in thought, as if she was searching for something, anything, at least one fact she could offer them about her. It seemed fair, as Misaki was rescued by these people. They had the right to know how she ended up… how she was.

"I... come from a rich family. We own Sentorappu Island and we run a trading enterprise." It seemed the only way to get through these people was to either tell the whole ugly truth or to lie. Besides, it wasn't exactly all a lie. She was owned by a rich family that owned the island and had a trading enterprise.

"We were on a cruise ship, and after a while, a storm hit and the ship sunk." Misaki added.

"Wait, so if you have family, you should know your forename." Zoro deduced quickly. "You told us you didn't know."

"I'm a distant relative from the rest of my family, no one recalls my last name. I was found in the East Blue and taken to the Grand Line once they found a weak link in their family tree." Misaki fibbed once again, rather flawlessly. "I was, nevertheless, a link, and brought to be a part of their family, once I became an orphan."

"Okay, but there's just one last thing I want to ask you... Why were you on a ship in the first place? What was your reason for leaving the island?" Zoro questioned.

"It was just a vacation cruise." The blue haired girl replied.

"Heyyyooo, we're back!" Nami's voice rang through the ship, Luffy and Chopper climbing the rope ladder behind her. Everyone was boarding the ship and since Franky had his god-given talent, he had already finished the structure of all nine bedrooms.

"COOOOOOOL~!" Luffy had shouted.

"Look at that! You actually added a balcony!" Nami's squeal vibrated throughout the Sunny and Franky snickered. "Obviously. There's nothing the great and wonderful Franky-senpai can't do." He gave his viewers his signature pose and chortled, "SUUUUPERRRR~!"

By this time, Robin and Zoro were completely done with all the ruckus and decided to run out. "Guys, guys, calm down a little bit. The girl just woke up. But don't come in yet."

"Ehhh, really!?" Luffy ignored Robin's last order and took a running start to the doctor's office.

"Where is she!?" Luffy turned to the patient's bed and saw Misaki. "Oh, there you are. You're awake, finally!"

Misaki's back was turned from Luffy's perspective, and then she finally did a 180.

"Hi!" Luffy grinned happily with his usual closed-eye look.

She turned to Luffy and closed her eyes for a moment.

'What's she doing? Is she gonna fall asleep?' Luffy cocked his head to the side.

"Hello, my name's Misaki. You must be the captain of the ship."

"Ohhh, how'd you guess?"

"I could tell by your stature and other statistics. Plus, it was pretty obvious, thinking about how your jolly roger has a straw hat on it." She pointed to the window of the room door, where the flag of the ship was visible with the naked eye, flowing in the air proudly.

"Oh, right." Luffy muttered. He turned back to look at Misaki, who now had her eyes open.

Affected by the sudden explosion of beauty that Zoro, Robin, and Franky all experienced, he plopped down onto his butt and made an inaudible, unintelligible noise.

"A-Are you okay?"

"H-How are you so _perfect_!?" Luffy shrieked. "You don't have any scars that we saw before! You look flawless, and your skin looks like a really smooth marshmallow! And also, you're way more beautiful when your eyes are open!"

"O-Oh?" Misaki cocked an eyebrow.

"Never mind, never mind." Luffy slapped his rubbery cheeks and stood up. "So, tell me everything! Where are you from? What do you like to do? Where-"

"We told you to calm down!" Zoro kicked the idiot captain's face into his cheekbone as Luffy fell to the floor once again.

"Owww~!"

"Misaki, are you okay?" Robin asked, checking to see if the girl was alright. She looked physically fine, but just mentally and noticeably overwhelmed.

"I-I'm fine, thank you." She snapped out of her ghostlike state of shock, biting her lip hard so that no more tears would emerge from her eyes.

"Can you stand?" Zoro followed into the room, making eye contact with the blue haired girl. She slowly shifted her legs off the bed, letting them dangle for a while, and then hopped off said bed with ease.

"Yeah." Misaki answered briefly.

"Good. Let's introduce you to the rest of the crew." Luffy fastened his straw hat to his head and let out a few chuckles.

* * *

"Everyone, this is Misaki."

Luffy had all the Straw Hats gathered to the front deck, as most of them opted to sitting on the grass area while Nami and Chopper stood behind Brook.

The Straw Hat Pirates were astounded. Naturally, Zoro, Luffy, Franky, and Robin were immune to Misaki's face by now, but they were still in disbelief. It was just the unbelievable fact that she was so beautiful, along with her radiant, almost shining body and her healing ability that she didn't even know about. There were so many questions in everyone's mind, so many questions about the girl, where she came from, and why she was in the ocean when Sanji first rescued her. But all those questions were blocked by a look from Robin and a simple, "She can't tell us anything yet, but we do know that she came from Sentorappu Island."

"Have you already passed that island?" Misaki looked at Nami with her piercing eyes.

"No, I've never heard of it, actually." Nami avoided the gaze nervously, thinking that she may turn to stone. "It's not marked on any of my maps."

"Oh…" Misaki looked down.

"But it should turn up soon! We just have to wait for the log pose to set to those directions, and then we can get there and we'll help you find your friends as we get to the island-"

"I think it would be best if you just docked on the island and waited for your log pose to set in the ship." Misaki interjected Nami's sentence.

"Why?" Zoro asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"It would be the best course of action for all of you." She explained. "I would advise against going into the island."

"...Okay, then. So, Misaki, while we wait for your home to turn up…" Nami began with awkwardness lacing her tone. But Misaki's flinch didn't go unnoticed by some watchful eyes when Nami spoke of the word "home." Robin knew something was wrong.

But what was it?

"...Would you like something to eat?" The orange haired woman offered.

"Yes, please. I'm famished." Misaki replied without hesitation. "I don't mean to be rude, but is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay. We can't just leave you out here to starve!" Luffy prompted. Then, they led her into the kitchen to sit at the dining table.

"Misaki-san is quite a beauty, isn't she, Sanji-san?" Brook, sitting off to the sidelines, stretched out his bone legs and turned his head to the cook who was also seated next to him.

Sanji was silent, staring at the girl with starry eyes. "She's so beautiful. It's like she has no imperfections."

"Oi, Sanji, are you okay?" Franky waved his big-ass hand in front of the cook's face and the latter seemed to snap out of it.

"Y-Yeah, yeah! I'm fine, shitty cyborg." Sanji waved his hand around frantically to swat away Franky's own.

"Alright, alright." Franky backed off. Chopper was also close by and he was in deep thought.

"I don't understand. Misaki's really pretty." The reindeer put a hoof beneath his chin, looking rather troubled.

"What's there to-" Franky tried to speak, but was cut off by Sanji standing up abruptly.

"Hey, man, where're you going?" Franky asked.

"I'm gonna prepare some food for our guest." The blond haired man grinned excitedly and dashed to the kitchen.

"Okay, then…" Usopp took Sanji's spot on the deck, making himself comfortable.

"What's there to not understand?" The shipwright continued on, turning to his friends. He shrugged. "A girl is pretty. Nami and Robin are also pretty!"

"But her 'pretty' isn't the same as Nami and Robin's 'pretty…' Or maybe I'm just imagining it." Chopper muttered.

"I kind of agree with Chopper. I didn't know how to express it before, but I guess Chopper's animalistic approach to a human goddess is more accurate. Yeah, she has a different kinda beauty than other people." Usopp added. "It's kinda like… Like a power."

"Did you see the look on Sanji's face?" Franky giggled.

"I did. Usually, he would go all goo-goo and heart eyes when a woman was thirty feet or less away from him. But today, he was different. He was more… innocent and happy." Usopp commented.

"That's true… But maybe it's because Misaki-san is a young girl?" Brook contemplated.

"Probably not. He was like that to younger girls, too- but even though it wasn't in a perverse or romantic way, he would still be all over the younger girls." Chopper thought out loud. "He's calmer now."

"Funny, shouldn't it be the opposite?" The cyborg pointed out.

"Guys, come on and join us at the table. We're talking with Misaki! She's a genius!" Luffy swung his head outside through the kitchen window with his Devil Fruit Power.

"Wait, Luffy, if she sees that, she'll freak!" Usopp brandished his hands all over the air, but Luffy only laughed his signature laugh. "Shishishi. She already knows about Devil Fruits and literally everything!"

The rest of the Straw Hats who were formerly outside walked to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Misaki was at the middle of the long dinner table, sitting on the bench chair and conversing with Nami and Robin.

"So you know all about diseases, all the wars, the history of all seas- including the Grand Line- and math and sciences?" Nami put a finger to her chin.

"Well, I also know how to communicate in sign language, morse code, and braille. I learned them all on Sentorappu Island."

"Seven plus thirteen is?" Luffy slammed a fist onto the table.

"Twenty."

"Thirteen times three is?"

"Thirty-nine."

"Luffy, that's basic math. You're supposed to know that stuff." Sanji laughed as he turned to find Luffy's sparkling expression directed towards Misaki.

"It's not like she can solve a harder equation." Zoro huffed.

"I think I can." Misaki challenged, and the navigator could tell that those two had formed an instant rivalry against each other.

"Forty-seven multiplied by seven hundred sixty-six." The swordsman spoke.

"Thirty-six thousand and two," Misaki answered without any hesitation whatsoever.

"Whaaat!?" Nami brought out a napkin, swiped a pen from one of her jean pockets, and started writing.

"Is she right, Nami?" Luffy asked.

"...Uhh... " More scribbling on the napkin.

"Well?"

"...Yeah." The orange haired woman finally spoke. "Yes. Wait, how did you-"

"Simple math, that's all." Misaki murmured.

"I would hardly call that 'simple math.'" Robin muttered under her breath.

"How do you _do_ that!?" Luffy blurted out in amazement. "How did she do that- _Is she Matilda_!?"

"I… I don't know. I think I just look at a problem and then I solve it." Misaki responded. "It's... almost like... every math problem in my mind is like..." She thought for a bit. "Maybe, I guess, solving the equation '1+1.'"

"That's SUUUPER!" Franky screamed in exhilaration. "You'd make an excellent calculator for when shipwrights are working!"

"Feh. Doesn't impress me." Zoro grunted.

"Oh, yeah? And what will?" Nami stood up from the bench chair and put a hand to her hips.

"Oi, Nami, why are you getting so defensive over Misaki?" Usopp hissed at the woman who just ticked off a notorious swordsman (Then again, _Nami_ was the one who ticked off the swordsman, so she would probably be okay…).

"She doesn't deserve to be taunted by someone as unsightly and uncultured as Zoro!" The navigator exclaimed in the heat of the moment, resulting in Misaki letting a surprised emotion show on her face.

"Well, what else can you do, Miss Know-It-All?" Zoro sneered, hoping to ignore any further feuds with Nami.

"Oi, shitty swordsman! Don't talk to Misaki-chan like that!"

"Haaahhh!?"

"I _will_ fight you!"

"Guys, let me join in!" Luffy bounded up to the two arguing men as they got into a pretty physical fight.

"...Sorry about our stupid crew." Nami deadpanned.

"Not at all. I find it amusing." Misaki said as she sipped a glass of water.

"So, why don't you find us scary, though?" Chopper climbed up onto the table and sat near Usopp's plate of mac n' cheese. "Normally, people we rescue would freak out just by looking at us!"

"What do you mean?" Misaki cocked her head to the side.

"Well, Chopper's a talking reindeer, Zoro looks scary as shit, and most of us have Devil Fruits." Usopp mentioned. "It's hard not to freak out."

"We also literally have a moving and talking skeleton." Nami added.

"Your crewmates already told me about the reindeer and the skeleton, albeit briefly. But anyway, I don't find any of those things shocking, or remotely scary." Misaki set her glass on the table, letting it a ring of water molecules form on the wood. 'The real 'scary' is out in the real world.'

"Oh, so she's like a mini-me." Robin said.

"...Well, I see no lie there," Nami shrugged.

"Sorry for the wait, Misaki-chan! Here's your food!" Sanji gently placed a tray of a full course meal and delicious looking treats, along with a small mug of hot chocolate.

"It looks… really good." Misaki fidgeted in her seat. "Are you sure I can eat this?"

"Yep. It's all for you."

She looked up at Sanji and nodded. "Thank you." She picked up the fork and started chewing.

"How is it?" The cook questioned.

Silence.

"Hm?" Brook, sitting at the edge of the table, looked up.

There were no words coming out of Misaki's mouth because she was just stuffing herself of food. She never looked so satisfied, and she could almost pass for a Luffy. Almost.

"Hey, hey, calm down! You're not even chewing…" Nami patted Misaki's back lightly.

"Sorry. It… It's really… really good." She managed.

"...That's good, then." Sanji smiled.

"Is it so good that you push it into your mouth faster than I do?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, Luffy. She must be _starving_." Franky told his moronic captain. "That's probably the reason why it tastes so good."

"Asshole, my cooking is always great!" would be the normal sentence that Sanji used as a comeback, but he didn't say anything.

Instead, Misaki spoke up after she wiped her mouth with her hand, since she didn't see a napkin in sight. "Actually, that was the best meal I ever had in my entire life."

"You finished everything…" Robin sweat dropped comically at the tray that was practically licked clean. "You must have been really hungry."

"Do you want seconds?" The blond cook offered.

"Yes, please…" The blue haired girl nervously replied.

"So, Misaki, although Zoro- for some stupid reason- is being a prick right now, I hope you'll forgive him." Usopp commented as Sanji started preparing more food for the guest. "He's usually more docile."

"Oh, not at all. I'm the one intruding here." Misaki objected politely. "I know I seem really suspicious right now, since I can't tell you anything about myself. He has every right to act hostile."

"But _do_ you have any other... hidden talents?" Usopp nudged. "Besides being a drop-dead beauty and a genius?"

"Hmm... I can also defend myself, if that's what you're asking. But I'm not sure if I'm at the level of what you might consider as good."

"Trust me, Misaki. No matter how bad you are, Usopp's standards are very low." Nami taunted, causing the long nosed man to grimace.

"Do you wanna put it to the test, then?" Zoro asked, looking at Misaki.

"Zoro." The ginger haired woman said sharply. "What are you saying?"

"Yeah, what are you doing, Zoro?" Luffy questioned.

"I'm just seeing how strong she is." Zoro responded with a lax shrug. "If we get attacked like we always do, we can't be looking out for her. It might endanger our own lives. So let's see the defense she's so proud of."

"First of all, I never expressed that I was proud of my defense…" The youngest girl clarified. "Second, how can I fight someone like you? You're almost twice my size and you have weapons."

"I won't use them, then."

"I don't exactly trust you,"

"I'm so glad you said it first."

"Ahhh! Zoro, why are you being such a dick to this _thirteen year old!_?" Nami shrieked.

"Fine. I'll try to defend myself from you." Misaki placed her hands on her hips. "But don't expect me to do anything that'll surprise you."

"This is really unnecessary, guys…!" Chopper attempted to calm the two down. "Misaki, your wounds _literally_ just healed!"

"Relax, Chopper, if I injure her in any single way, I'll inflict double the amount of pain onto myself." Zoro scratched his head in a laidback sense.

"FIRSTLY, WORRY ABOUT _YOURSELF_ , TOO! SECOND, WHAT'S YOUR LOGIC!? JUST AVOID INJURING HER IN _ANY_ WAY!"

"Yosh, I guess we're doing this." The Straw Hat captain confirmed. "I'll be the referee!"

"I'll be the waterboy." Usopp called out.

"I'll be the standby…?" Brook muttered. "Oh, wait, I can't stand because I'm a- oh wait, that skeleton joke doesn't work."

"You guys, this is ridicul-" Nami began, but was stopped by Robin's faux hands.

"Zoro told us he wouldn't harm her. I'm interested in this fight." The older woman chuckled.

"Ah, you too, Robin…?"

Misaki made a fighting stance once her legs stabilized from standing. Zoro perked up. 'So she's actually experienced?' Studying her stance, he could tell that the girl had actually fought before.

"Okay, then, _gooo~_!" Luffy drew his hand down, as if he was signaling the start of a race.

"This is completely pointless." Nami murmured.

"Well, they're already motivated, so let's not stop them." Robin suggested, but there was hesitance in her voice.

Zoro made an attempt to lunge, starting off easily to help Misaki. He didn't even exert 10% of that first attack in order to see how strong this girl was while not exposing his weaknesses, either.

She seemed to smoothly dodge that first move and slid down when Zoro had attacked from the front. She stood back up and watched her opponent carefully. She didn't want to attack back, since that could have been used against her.

Zoro brought his elbow close to Misaki's face, but stopped because he thought it would definitely hit her. But she blocked that, too, with the palm of her hand. Because he was caught off guard, she could swat it away from her face and used that opportunity to kick up momentum from the grassy deck and land a kick while she was still in the air.

Her foot managed to barely touch Zoro's chest since he moved back a bit, but before she could land back onto the ground, he grabbed her legs and swung her all the way to the other side of the ship, the other Straw Hat Pirates screaming and hissing at the swordsman.

She, however, landed again, but more roughly this time. Her feet skidded down the floor, and before she made a complete halt, she jumped back into the air and curled her right hand into a fist. Misaki tricked Zoro into thinking that she would attack with her hands from above. Zoro saw through this attempt and dodged the attack that would actually come from the left fist with his hand grabbing Misaki's small left hand. But he didn't expect the attack that would come right after the previous, which was a kick to the back with a powerful leg. Since he hand held onto Misaki's hand, she had more stability to stay off the ground and use her lower body.

"Woah, they're actually on even grounds!?" Usopp exclaimed in shock.

"No, I don't think Zoro's trying." Luffy noted.

"He has to take into account that he can't harm Misaki, and he's probably underestimating her because of her small and frail-looking physique." Robin added. "So, Misaki has the upper hand here."

"Stop this madness!" Chopper slid in between the two, who were separated after Misaki's blow to Zoro's back. "Misaki's still healing. We can't risk for her to worsen her condition. She could die!"

"And Zoro, this is foolish. What are you trying to accomplish by this fight?" Usopp twiddled his thumbs.

Ignoring the two who spoke up, Zoro stared at Misaki, dead in the eye. "You're stronger than I thought. But you won't be a problem if you ever try to ambush any of us." He turned to the audience. "She's even weaker than Usopp."

"I'm right here!"

"You guys saved my life, and you even had the sincerity to go so far as to feed me a rare Devil Fruit. Why would I ever try to ambush you?" Misaki wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Why do you think so strongly that I want to attack you guys?"

"Well, you never know." Zoro said. "But now, we don't have to worry in our ship anymore."

"Why are you being such a douchebag to Misaki?" Nami yelled at Zoro's turned back as he left the deck to train in the crow's nest.

"He's not usually this rude. We're truly sorry." Brook whispered to Misaki, who only nodded. "I don't mind. If you were all so kind to me, I would be a bit uneasy."

"You deserve it. You're not like anyone else on this crew. You're so… so normal." The orange haired navigator combed through her curly locks with her fingers.

"Alright, go back to the kitchen and finish your food, Misaki-chan." Sanji sent a glare towards Zoro's direction, as the latter was already going up the ladder that led to the crow's nest.

"Hey, douchebag! What's your problem with Misaki-chan!?" The cook stomped his feet as he sauntered over to the swordsman.

"I can't hear you over the fact that I don't care, and I don't have a problem with Misaki." He half-shouted down at Sanji, and went inside the crow's nest.

Sanji, frustrated with his crew mate, climbed up to the crow's nest to get closer to Zoro. When he reached the end, he opened the door forcefully and entered the large training room.

"Be nice to her. She's fucking thirteen."

"She's also a complete stranger, and she's sneaky. Also, she knows how to fight." The green haired man reminded the blond as he picked up a dumbbell of monstrous size.

"You fought her, and you didn't seem like you had too much trouble!" He fired back, sitting down on a nearby bench and crossing his arms over his chest.

"She was holding back." He thrusted the weight in front of his body with both his arms.

"How-"

"She knows how to fight, but she pretended not to. That's why she made a lot of mistakes during our little rally." He interrupted the cook before the latter could finish his sentence. Sanji backed away as he chewed on the end of his already-lit cigarette. Zoro glanced at him and looked back at his dumbbell.

"Did you notice anything when you first rescued her?" The swordsman grumbled.

"Notice?" Sanji repeated. "I don't-..." He thought for a moment and then jerked in surprise. "Oh, I do remember that when I first saw her, she was covered in bubbles."

"Bubbles?"

"Yeah."

Zoro set the dumbbell down. "She was covered in bubbles. Were you high?"

"No, dumbass. Her entire body was encased in bubbles on the ocean floor, which was probably how she survived under the sea for so long."

"That makes no sense." Zoro remarked. "That's not even possible!"

"Well, it happened." Sanji took his cigarette out of his mouth and got up to leave. "Remember, shitty swordsman! Stop acting like an asshole!"

* * *

"She's leaving."

"No, she's not!"

Misaki was in the kitchen, sleeping on the floor with a sleeping bag and a pillow borrowed from Nami's bed. She said that she was fine with any place, but Chopper didn't think the hospital bed was okay for her to sleep in, since the leather was covered in bloody stains. They would have to wash that out later. The bedrooms Franky was working on was a project stalled so the Straw Hat Pirates could have a discussion about the new fugitive on board.

"This is ridiculous. We don't know who she is, who her parents are- what if she's not thirteen?" Zoro argued. He had a fair point. Misaki looked like she could be, at most, sixteen years old. But Nami and Luffy were obstinate.

"She should stay. We can't just abandon her on an island she doesn't know!" Nami justified. "We'll have her stay on the Sunny until she wants to, or until we reach Sentorappu Island."

"I agree with Nami. There's no reason for us to ditch her here. Misaki seems like a really nice person." Luffy added.

"Yeah, and that's what you said about Robin from the beginning when she joined us until she betrayed us." Zoro muttered. He turned to Robin. "No offense."

"None taken."

"Why are you so against her staying!?" Nami hollered.

"Because she's suspicious as fuck!"

" _Robin_ was a suspicious person when _she_ joined, but did I hear any complaining from you? No! She hasn't even betrayed us yet, and she was at the bottom of the goddamn ocean. And as you said, if she tries to use or attack us, we're more than capable of handling her! What other excuse do you have?" The navigator hissed, each word surrounded with agitation.

"Well, her Devil Fruit will manifest soon, so she may become even stronger. We _did_ find that fruit to be powerful." Robin put a finger to her chin.

"And Zoro also said that all that potential energy came from Misaki. So… could she have been faking her fight with Zoro? Maybe she's even stronger than any of us know?" Franky made a couple of assumptions.

"Fine. We'll have a vote." Sanji said, standing up. "All in favor of Misaki staying, say 'aye.'"

The only people who remained silent during the process were Zoro, Robin, and Usopp.

"How come, Usopp?" Luffy dragged out.

"I kind of have to agree with Zoro. She _does_ seem hella suspicious."

"Right?" Zoro encouraged.

"I don't understand. Everyone we ever came across never betrayed us! No one was ever-" Luffy was interrupted.

"Me?" Nami deadpanned.

"Me." Robin added.

"Bon Clay."

"Even _Vivi_."

"Oh, and that weird-ass Foxy guy."

"Okay, maybe a _few_ people." Luffy corrected his previous statement. "But I have a good feeling about Misaki. She seems so kind." He directed his glare to Zoro and Nami. "Unlike you two,"

"WE HAVE GOOD REASON TO BEAT YOU WHENEVER WE WANT." Nami and Zoro synchronized.

"I'm the Captain! The captain decides whether someone goes or someone stays! And Misaki's staying, like it or not." Luffy folded his arms across his chest.

"But we also voted," Robin said.

"That too." The straw hatted boy muttered quickly.

"I think she should stay until she recovers." Chopper raised his hoof.

"What? Not until she reaches her home?" Nami questioned, surprised.

"About that. She's lying."

Everyone turned to Zoro with confused looks on their faces.

"What are you talking about?" Nami questioned.

"When you guys were on the island, Robin, Franky, and I were talking to the girl. She told us she was from a rich family and she got into an accident due to a vacation cruise." The swordsman clicked his tongue. "How could a girl like that be part of a wealthy, well off family, and have so many scars?"

"So you're saying she's either lying about her family, or what? Maybe she got all those injuries when she was in the shipwreck." Nami concluded.

"No, actually…" Chopper murmured. "It would be better that we didn't drop her off at wherever she came from. She obviously can't tell us anything from her home island for some sort of reason that may be bad news to her, us, or maybe both sides." He clapped his hooves together. "When I was treating her, I noticed that not all of her wounds were fresh. Her missing fingers were from a burn and an amputation, and those two messes weren't recent, either. I think the previous injuries may be from Sentorappu Island. Maybe she shouldn't go back there. She might be the victim of abuse."

As Chopper spoke about Misaki's previous state (before all her injuries were healed by her newly acquired powers), it piqued Zoro's interest.

Silence ensued.

"Why didn't I think about that?" Sanji and Robin spoke up in unison.

"So, let's follow through Chopper's plan, then." Nami put her hands on the table of the aquarium room. "She'll stay until she gets better." The ginger side glanced Zoro.

"It might make the childish marimo feel better about his self esteem issues."

"I heard that."

"Funny, I _meant_ for you to hear it, actually!" Nami exclaimed cheerily while beaming.

"Fuck you!"

* * *

 **Edited May 24th, 2019**

 **Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8: This Little Girl

**Chapter 8: This Little Girl**

* * *

 **So sorry for not updating. I was crying about how much I suck at writing and committing to my fanfiction.**

 **But I'm back and better than ever, with a 9,000+ word chapter! (wow I couldn't make it 10,000 ikr lol) Hope you all enjoy my crappy writing once again.**

* * *

After the Straw Hat Pirates told Misaki what they would do, she nodded and bowed her head. "I'm truly grateful that you're doing this much for me."

"Don't mention it. We really want to help you, and a girl your age shouldn't have to deal with this alone." Nami waved her hands in defense.

"No, really, I'm really thankful." She stood tall again. She was actually a lot shorter than Nami, but not by too much. "In exchange, I'll help around the ship and try my best to not be a bother, Nami-san."

"Please, don't use honorifics with any of us! We're all friendly on this ship. And don't worry about it… We already have six nuisances onboard the Sunny." Nami glanced at the idiots who were fishing and chattering about the most idiotic topics. "Another one would hardly be noticeable."

"Alright. Is there anything I can do right now? I promise I won't do anything to anger you." Misaki set Nami's comment aside.

"Well… Would you like to wash the dishes?" The orange haired woman offered. "Sanji has to rest his hands because he cooks everything and does most of the kitchen cleaning. Most of our crew members don't exactly help out a lot."

"Okay."

"Yay! Fabulous!" Nami let her hands push Misaki to the kitchen door. "Okay, Sanji's in there preparing breakfast, so you can wash the dishes!"

"Alright." She stepped in. 'Yesterday, I slept in the kitchen. There weren't many dishes to be cleaned… it should be an easy task.' Misaki took a look at the sink. There were cups, plates, and bowls stacked messily, one on top of another. They weren't towering high, but there were still a lot.

"Hello, Misaki-chan!" Sanji was peeling potatoes.

"I'm here to help with the dishes." Misaki folded up her sleeves and tied up her hair with a piece of string she found hanging loosely from her clothes.

"What!? No, no! It's fine, I can't let a lady do such disgusting work." Sanji walked the navy blue haired girl away from the sink. "I'll send in someone else-"

"It's fine, I washed a lot of dishes. I won't ruin your luncheon china plates." Misaki interrupted.

"That's funny- You can identify the plates?" Sanji asked in a dumbfounded way as he glanced at the plates which were stacked on the dishwasher.

"...Yes, I know each type." Misaki pursed her lips and thought back at an etiquette book she swiped from a bookshelf when she was, like, seven years old. 'Why did I even bother reading that one?' She thought to herself as she picked up a plate with no rim.

"This is a coupe shape." Misaki started the water and gave the dirty dishes a brisk rinse.

"That's right," The cook murmured.

"Please, continue cooking. I promise I won't be a bother," The blue haired girl stated simply. So, Sanji breathed out and let her do whatever, continuing to peel potatoes.

There was a short silence between the two of them while the water was running smoothly, hitting dishes and spraying into the walls of the sink.

"I'm all done," After a few minutes, Misaki exhaled and wiped her hands on a nearby dishrag.

"That was fast." It really was.

"Really? I kind of took my time with them…" The girl hummed softly while washing her hands in the now empty sink.

"So, Misaki-chan, do you... perhaps, like to cook?" Sanji asked. He assumed that she cooked. But oh, how wrong he was.

"I never tried. I only washed dishes."

"...Oh." He responded, disappointed. This apparently did not go unnoticed by Misaki.

"I'd... love to start, though."

He raised his head from peeling vegetables with a bright smile on his face. "I'll teach you, then!"

* * *

"Woah, woah, what's going on here?" Zoro stumbled through legs and arms which were flailing around in excitement. A good amount of the Straw Hats had gathered in the kitchen and were watching something happening in the cooking area where Sanji would usually prepare their meals.

"Awesome..."

"Wow, it looks so delicious!"

"This is amazing…"

Little comments of awe made the swordsman shove through the small crowd and looked out to see Sanji and Misaki simultaneously creating dishes and platters. They were giving orders to each other without any hesitation or awkwardness, and even though the kitchen area was compact, Misaki and Sanji moved around swiftly, never losing balance when holding trays and utensils or bumping into each other.

"Did you chop all the onions? Sautee them afterwards," Sanji commanded.

"Yes. The bread finished baking, so you can slice it after it's cooled down."

"After you're done with the onions, cut up the vegetables on the counter."

They were dishing out simple statements and orders so well, and everything was coordinated and perfected, as if they had been working together for an eternity.

Usopp was also there, sitting in between Chopper and Nami. "I've never really seen Sanji ordering a girl around so seriously and calmly."

"Yeah," Nami deadpanned. "It feels a little weird."

"What's going on?" Zoro asked, hoping to be informed by the Weakling Trio.

"Well, this is Misaki's first time cooking, but she's already really good at it and she's cutting the breakfast prep time down to half its original duration," Chopper explained.

"Half? If it's her first time cooking, shouldn't she be _slowing Ero Cook down_?" Zoro folded his arms across his chest.

"That's what's so remarkable!" Usopp exclaimed. "She really has the ability to do anything."

Zoro grunted in response. God, he was doing a lot of grunting these past days.

"Breakfast is ready, call down the rest of the Straw Hats, shitty swordsman." Sanji responded to the grunt. He then turned to Misaki, flashing her a kind smile. "Misaki-chan, were you lying when you said you've never cooked before?"

"I wasn't. I've never."

"That's bullshit," Franky muttered, putting his robotic hands to his chin. "Complete bullshit."

"I think Misaki-san is a terrific helper!" Brook clapped his hands together. "Don't you agree, Zoro-san?"

"Tch! Whatever." The marimo stormed off, calling everyone down to eat.

Luffy arrived really, really quickly. He took one glance at the food and sat on the table. "Thanks for the meaaal~!"

"Misaki helped with the cooking, Luffy. Thank her, too." Nami nudged the idiot.

"There's no need…"

"Thanks, Misaki!" Luffy raised a spoon in the air. "This is really tasty!"

"He already started eating before everyone got a chance to sit…" The cook of the Sunny muttered. He placed his foot down on Luffy's head, squishing the rubber man with no mercy. "Mind your shitty manners sometimes, will you!?"

"Gah, sowwy!"

Breakfast was a success. Robin noticed two things, however, as she was eating. Zoro was still missing… and Misaki was rubbing her eyes for quite a while now, instead of enjoying her meal.

"Misaki, are you alright? You're tearing up," The observant brunette set her fork down to confront the younger girl.

"O-Oh… I'm okay. I guess the steam of the food made me cry a little bit…" Misaki scratched the back of her head and wiped away the tears.

Robin decided that for now, she wouldn't delve any deeper into the matter. "Misaki, can you take a tray of this food to Zoro? I'm sure he would love to eat your food," Robin changed the subject, but giving Misaki a look that partly said, "This isn't over."

"I'm sure he wouldn't… But alright." Misaki acknowledged the look she gave her and took the tray, leaving the room and a very forlorn Sanji.

"Ah, she's gone." Luffy moaned. "Our honorary guest," He was still in the middle of chewing his food so little flakes of potato were flying out of his mouth.

"You're disgusting, you know that?" Nami side eyed him.

"Sorry, sorry."

"You're doing it again!"

Misaki walked with the tray up to the crow's nest, where Zoro was training and probably blowing off steam after most of his crewmates all decided to go against him when clearly, his opinion about everything was superior. That girl was trouble.

"I brought up food-"

Zoro, on instinct, hurled a ten-pound weight at the direction of where the sound came from.

Misaki dodged it, the weight sliding by a few of her blue hairs. "Oh, that was close."

"A-Ah, I'm really sorry…" Zoro muttered, putting on the most dumbfounded expression. He also noticed that the weight had crashed into the wall of the crow's nest, which probably was a hazard, but Usopp or Franky would fix it anyway.

"It's fine," Misaki responded.

"How did you dodge that?" The swordsman interrogated, suspicion lacing his words once again. "That was a pretty fast throw."

"I have experience with defense. We literally fought yesterday, and you should have noticed that I was better defensively than offensively."

"Oh, right. What are you here for, then?" Zoro asked.

"Food. You weren't coming down to the kitchen, so Robin asked for me to bring it up here."

"Oh, the Shitty Cook was already done? I'll dig in, then." He took the tray graciously and started munching on his breakfast.

"You do know I helped out, right?" Misaki confirmed, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, _that_ explains why he finished faster than normally, I guess," He licked a piece of rice off his thumb.

"Ah," Was all the navy blue haired girl said in turn.

The green haired man looked up at the still-standing girl and cocked his head. "Uhhh... Do you need something?"

"I thought you would be more obstinate to eat if I offered the food for you. I thought you would be more suspicious or just arrogant." Misaki answered quite bluntly.

"Why would I be arrogant?" Zoro glared.

"Because you hate me since you think I'm going to ambush you when you're all sleeping or something." Misaki answered. "I would think that someone of your personality would never accept the 'enemy's food' because of their own stubborn mind."

Zoro grunted before answering. "Mmmm... I don't trust you, obviously, but I won't refuse food, since I know that it was made in a kitchen I've been to, in my home, by a person who hasn't shown any signs of being an enemy." The man explained. "Besides, I've been poisoned so many times that my body's pretty much used to it by now. And also, I don't hate you. I find you annoying as hell, though."

"What? Why?" Misaki turned to face the man.

"Because of your attitude. I would have let you off if you were more respectful and polite, but you had to taunt and provoke me."

"I only did that because you were insinuating that I was going to kill everyone on this ship,"

"I never said that."

"You thought it, though."

Zoro stopped eating for a moment, and Misaki looked up. "Oh, sorry, I'll go now."

"Why did you have so many scars?"

The girl stopped. She looked back at Zoro and then down at her own hands. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I saw. I saw your arms and legs, at least." He muttered. "You were covered in marks and old injuries."

"You didn't see clearly enough. I was obviously beaten by the ocean." She blockaded herself from Zoro's words and the truth. She didn't want him to know. He didn't need to know something like that- He was just an outsider.

The swordsman set the food down brashly, letting the silverware clatter onto the tray. "Let's cut the crap, Misaki."

"What're you going to say now?" The girl rolled her eyes.

"What's your motive?" Zoro stood up, now a lot taller than Misaki.

She folded her arms and sighed. "I have no motive here. If I was really here for a reason, why would I be at the bottom of the ocean? Do you really think I would have risked my life like that?"

"Then why were you at the bottom of the ocean?"

"I told you already, I was in a shipwreck."

"But why were you in a shipwreck?" Zoro leaned in to try to drive fear into Misaki, although the girl remained stoic.

"Because there was a storm."

"A storm?"

"Yes, it's common in the ocean. A storm."

"Where were you heading? Sentorappu Island?"

Misaki pursed her lips, and she finally held hesitation in her words. "I wasn't. I was travelling away from Sentorappu Island. But I can't explain why."

"I can take a good guess by how we found you in the beginning, before your body was all healed." The man frowned. "I saw your shredded rags that were clothes to you. And I saw all the injuries. You can't deny that, at least,"

"Like I said, I still don't know what you're talking about-"

"I know I'm right. I'm sure of it, now that you sound like I've managed to put all the pieces together." Zoro prompted.

Misaki breathed out. "Then what's your guess?"

The final words she dreaded to hear came out, as clear as day.

" _You were a slave_."

* * *

In the afternoon, the Straw Hats did their regular thing, and Nami had already explained to them that the next island would be a little more far away than she expected.

"It could take us days to get there. So save food- I'm talking to you, Luffy- and make sure we earn a lot of money the next island!"

Misaki was still allowed to stay, but she didn't really know what to do. She helped with cooking and cleaning, but the Straw Hats didn't give her many other options. Cooking only took thirty minutes because Sanji was so fast and she could adapt well to his pace, and cleaning was no chore because the only things she helped with were the dishes, the laundry, and the occasional accidents of spills or whatnot.

So.

Misaki, after one seemingly long and dreary day, listlessly wandered around the basement of the ship, thrusting her hands around to see if anything would happen. Nothing did, of course, and she made sure that no one was watching her, since it was embarrassing to fail at something so miserably.

"Why don't you go into the library?" Chopper offered, after Misaki'd returned back to the deck to talk to the reindeer. "There are a ton of books in there, so maybe you can find something you like, or maybe something about your Devil Fruit…"

"I doubt it. I read all the books in there." Robin passed by Chopper and Misaki's conversation. "There are only some about Devil Fruits, but nothing about hers."

"Oh."

"But I can recommend you some novels to read." Robin gave the girl a warm smile. "Why don't you come along with me?"

"Okay," Misaki jumped off the railing where she was sitting with the reindeer, and followed Robin.

The library was calm and quiet. It was a world apart from the rest of the Sunny and the only thing that would really be the cherry on the top would be soundproof walls for it, along with Robin's room. That would be so quiet and relaxing, and really a nice change from the bickering and whooping you could hear from the thin windows and wooden panels.

"So, here are some books that I think you might find interesting." Robin handed Misaki thick, heavy pieces of text, and the weight of these things was enough to make the girl stumble a little.

"Are you okay?" The older woman turned.

"Y-Yes."

"Well, I actually have other work to do. With gardening. So you can stay here and read." Robin smiled.

But before she shut the door, Misaki was taking a look at the titles and said, "I already read all of these…"

"What?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"I read all of the books you gave me. Is it alright if I pick out a different one?"

"You read _all_ these?" Robin placed her hand on the table the heavy books were stacked upon and waved her hand across the pieces of literature.

"Yes. I read this one when I was ten. And these two when I was eight…" She pointed out the dusty covers and the title written in gold. "Ah, I especially liked this one."

"Yes, that novel had an interesting story… But you read these two when you were eight years old?"

"Yes."

"This reading level is difficult even for educated adults."

"...Oh. It didn't seem so hard to me." The navy blue haired girl shrugged and glanced back at the raven haired beauty.

'So Misaki not only has a superb calculator as a mind, but also is a literary genius. What is she not capable of?' Robin analyzed in her head.

"No worries. I can recommend you another book." Robin stacked the books into a neat pile and let her faux hands search for another novel.

"Oh. It's _The Studies Of Wisteria._ " Misaki read a title of a cook aloud. This particular nonfiction novel was stacked upon many others.

"Did you read that one, too?" Robin questioned.

"Yes. It was educational, I guess."

"It _was_ very educational. It took me a while to read it." Robin added.

"Yeah, it took me a while, too. Four or five hours."

Robin decided not to say anything about that, even though she was internally dying on the inside. 'How fast can she even read? That book was around a thousand pages and took me only a little bit less than a _week_!'

"So, do you have any specific genres you like? I could recommend you a few, and it's near impossible you've read every single piece in this entire library," The archaeologist offered quickly to conceal any inkling of shock on her face.

"Well... to be completely honest, I'm more interested in your power," Misaki sat herself down onto a chair. "Does it allow you to form hands wherever you want them to?"

"Oh, yes." Robin perked up at the sudden question from the usually quiet girl. "I can also produce legs, eyes, and clones of myself." She chuckled. "I'm not just limited to hands, you know. But I find them to be the most useful in any situation."

"That's amazing. I wonder what my Devil Fruit will be like..."

"Usopp did say that it was probably water-based. But we can only know for sure once you display your powers." Robin said.

"But that doesn't make sense. If my powers are water-based, isn't that ironic, since most Devil Fruit users are weak to the ocean… and can't swim?"

"You're right. It's strange." Robin pondered on that thought. "Well, we might be wrong. Maybe everything was just a coincidence and the fruit was cursed to have water powers until swallowed by a vessel."

"That could be a possibility." Misaki pondered. "And how would I know the moment I 'display my powers,' to be exact? How did you find out, Robin?"

"Well, I ate my Devil Fruit when I was younger than you. Don't worry too much about your powers, Misaki. They'll turn up," She patted the girl's shoulder kindly, "as did mine."

Misaki only gave a muddled reply in return.

Robin looked around and spotted a couple of books on Devil Fruits, all tucked into a shelf at the far corner. 'I've never seen those before. Maybe Usopp bought them.'

"Maybe you can find something in there. They give information on Devil Fruits, apparently." The raven haired woman pinpointed the books, suggesting she look there.

"But I thought you said you didn't find anything on my fruit."

"I didn't notice these books. I don't think I ever opened any of them up…" The two walked over to that shelf, stooping low to reach that bottom row of dusty books. Robin picked one of them up and blew off the residue that had built up over the years. The books left a lingering smell of oak and salt.

The older woman flipped to a random page in the Devil Fruit books and read aloud, "The Neku Neku (knotting) no mi?"

"The Koin Koin (coin) no mi, the Hen Kan (transform) no mi. These are all really strange sounding fruits." Misaki opened up a pamphlet.

They kept on flipping through the pages until the blue haired girl spotted a ripped out page bookmarked into a book and sticking out.

"What's this…?" Misaki slid that one page out of the unopened book and observed the image of a Devil Fruit and the words below it.

Her eyes widened. Her mouth was agape.

"Misaki, did you find something…?" The archaeologist walked over to the other girl and looked over the latter's shoulder to view what she was seeing. She gasped.

"Robin, did it look like this? My fruit?"

"The Mizu Mizu no mi." Robin read out aloud, knowing that Misaki was too shocked to say anything else. This shock was probably due to the fact that she never thought that she would actually find it in a book.

"Usopp was right. It's a water-based fruit."

When the woman turned to the blue haired girl, she could see a kind of gleam in her eyes. 'Odd. Why does she look like she's up to something?'

"If it's water-based… Does this mean I can control water?" Misaki murmured.

"Yes. But you still won't be able to swim. "Robin answered slowly, cautious of all her words. 'Maybe Zoro was right. Maybe she really can't be trusted.'

"Does it say anything else?"

Robin quickly looked back at the page.

That page held the fruit's picture and the title. Underneath, where there should have been a description of this fruit, was a faded-looking blank with the discoloration coming from the book being worn out and used frequently.

"No. Aging must have erased the words." Robin said, sighing. "It's too bad. We could have learned what you could do with the fruit, specifically."

Misaki lowered her head, disappointed.

"Still, you have the fruit. Devil Fruit abilities will come in time, and you'll present your powers."

"I… I see." Misaki stammered. There was a long pause.

"Well, now that we know the name of your fruit, I'll get you a book for you to read-" Robin began, but was interrupted.

"Actually, I'll just pass on reading. I'd like to go outside."

Misaki, after setting the book back on top of another Devil Fruit text, ran off to the exit of the library.

The brunette cocked an eyebrow and wondered, 'What is she plotting?'

Luffy was sitting on the railing of the Sunny, grasping lazily at a worn out fishing pole and snoozing on the job. His eyes opened once he sensed a person approaching him.

"Ah, Misaki! Are you having fun here?" Luffy turned his whole body around, not seeming to care if he lost his balance and fell into the ocean.

"Of course. Your crew members are all hospitable." Misaki bowed her head just a bit to show respect.

"Ahaha, don't bow at me. I feel awkward." Luffy laughed out. "You're really mature for your age, though!"

"Thank you."

"You're really similar to someone I know…" Luffy put a finger to his chin. "Robin."

"Robin?" Misaki repeated, taking a seat next to Luffy on the railing.

"No, no, wait. Not Robin. Someone else. But I don't know why. But I don't even know who I'm thinking about!" He waved his fishing pole around. "Hey, Misaki! You gotta help me remember!"

"I'm not sure if I can do that... " Misaki sweat dropped at the strangeness of his request.

"No, help me remember!" Luffy jabbed the index finger of his free hand into the side of his forehead and wrinkled his face in an attempt to concentrate.

"How am I supposed to read into your memory? Or your mind?"

"Fair point." Luffy hummed. "Hey, you wanna fish with me?" He handed her another fishing pole.

"No, thank you."

"Boo~"

She stared back at the ocean once Luffy turned back to fishing, slurring a chant for tuna and octopus.

"Tuna, tuna, meaty meaty meat… O-C-T-O-P-O-O-S!"

"That's not how you spell 'octopus,' Luffy!" Nami yelled out from another room in the ship. "I swear to god, a banana would be smarter than you!"

"Shishishi!"

Misaki ignored the two bickering on and on from great distances and focused on the horizon of the sea. She wanted to achieve her goal, and she needed to do it quickly.

'I need to do this… I need to help everyone as fast as possible.'

She put a hand out and let her arm point straight to the horizon.

In her mind, everything was hectic. All her priorities were out of control. But Misaki could do it. She knew that she could. She slowly let everything fade away, until her brain was just an empty, pristine-white canvas. She couldn't let a single drop of paint fall on this white until she could do something with her Devil Fruit powers. That was her goal.

The navy blue haired girl reached out, and in the vast field of blankness she called her mind, she whispered one word.

" _Come."_

Instantly, a bubble of water formed in Misaki's hands. She gasped, her eyes widening as she fell back from the rails of the Sunny. Luffy almost dropped his fishing pole to the sea when he flinched and looked back at the younger girl on the ground of the deck. "Woah, Misaki! Are you okay!?"

She was about to respond when the bubble, which kept itself in her hand, expanded into a giant mass of clear water, and sprayed itself into the air, showering anyone at a ten meter radius from Misaki.

"Aaaack!" Usopp, the poor sniper who was walking by, got drenched by the water. Franky, who was also walking beside him, put on a face as he was hit by the shower.

Luffy fell into the sea, as the sudden burst of water overwhelmed him with shock. Usopp and Franky exclaimed together, "Luffy!"

'Why didn't he just fall the other way!?' Usopp grumbled internally, starting to take off his shirt, but Misaki was already on it. She dove into the water.

"Oh my god. Misaki just jumped into the ocean!" Franky screamed.

"WHAT!?"

Everything and everyone became so crazy in a span of a few seconds as they gathered where their captain fell, but they were all silenced by a geyser which appeared close to where Luffy sank in the ocean, and atop this geyser was none other than Luffy himself.

"Luffy!" Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Franky, and Sanji all shouted out.

"I'm okay!?" Luffy asked nobody in particular in comical surprise.

"But… where's Misaki-san!?" Brook placed his hands on his cheeks in terror, molding himself to look like "The Scream."

"Wha- I'm going to go!" Sanji got ready to go underwater as he set a foot on the railing, but looked down at sudden splashing sounds.

"I can… I can still swim." Misaki stated as her head poked out of the sea, her legs kicking up to prevent her from sinking back into the water.

"Pardon?" Zoro's eye twitched.

"Yeah, Misaki, that's not possible. We gave you a Devil Fruit." Luffy shouted from up above his geyser of glory.

Misaki gave a glance towards the rubber man's direction and the geyser splashed down into the deck of the Sunny, having Luffy land smoothly on his butt.

"Ouch." He said.

"Luffy, you moron!" Nami screamed, throttling him by the shirt.

"Shitty captain," Sanji added quietly.

"No, I can definitely swim. See?" Misaki dove back into the water, her head and body not resurfacing for a few seconds, which got Sanji paranoid once again.

"Misaki-chan!" He called out, all panicked.

"I'm fine!" The girl resurfaced once again.

To the Straw Hat's surprise, she stood up… on the water? She stood on the water. Like, not even standing upright in the water, but using the water as a floor, almost, and standing on it.

"Woah." Usopp gasped in complete awe. "I'm gonna try that!"

"It won't work, you dumbass." Zoro discouraged.

"Aw." The sniper's head dropped in disappointment.

"Cool!" Luffy also gazed at the thirteen year old standing on the water, shaking his head left to right to get rid of any excess water, an action that mostly only dogs would perform.

"You've already mastered your Devil Fruit Powers… That's amazing." Usopp uttered with the look of absolute surprise on his face, his emo mood long gone. "How did you know what to do?"

"Robin and I were looking at books for me to read because I didn't know what to do on board the Sunny." Misaki responded. "I came across a pamphlet on Devil Fruits and there was a page that was ripped out." She paused to climb up to the Sunny and jump over the railing to land on the grass of the Sunny's deck. "And even though there was no caption or description, I saw the title of the Devil Fruit, which gave me a major clue. Besides, I didn't master _anything_ , honestly."

Robin had the side of her body leaning on the wall of the kitchen, holding a sheet of ripped paper. "The Mizu Mizu no mi."

Everyone turned to the voice and the raven haired woman continued. "It was great that we found what the name of the Devil Fruit was. But I found something else, Misaki."

"Yes?"

"After you left, I looked at the book that the page came out from once again." She began. "I saw that most of the fruits didn't really look all that similar to yours, but I did notice that the fruits all had something in common."

"What… is it?" Misaki asked, walking closer to Robin.

"They were all Logia-type Devil Fruits." Robin answered.

"...What?" The others inquired with a dumbfounded expression.

"This is another form of a Logia type… Misaki, the Logia form of the Devil Fruits is the rarest one…" Robin muttered.

"A Logia allows its user to create, control, and turn into its element." Zoro confirmed with no one in particular, and a few of the pirates nodded their heads in agreement.

"Logias are the most powerful Devil Fruit types out of the three, right?" Usopp questioned.

"That makes Misaki really strong, then…" Franky stated hesitantly, afraid that something he said would irritate the green haired swordsman next to him.

"Now, most of the fruits in this book were as specific and useless as the ones we reviewed before." Robin continued on, drawing out the book the ripped page was in with her Devil Fruit powers.

"Like the Neku Neku no mi?" Misaki deadpanned, and the rest of the Straw Hats all cocked their heads in confusion.

'The Neko Neko (lol fucking sanji) no mi?' Sanji pondered internally.

"Correct. There were fruits listed in the book like the fruit with the element of lilies, the element of paint, and the element of butterflies." Robin said. "And normally, those types of Devil Fruits wouldn't be helpful at all in battle."

"So that one page was ripped out by the previous owner of the book because he or she was aiming to get that specific fruit…" The girl guessed.

"Since water is such a flexible and powerful element, it's quite plausible." The archaeologist agreed.

"And if the Devil Fruit hunter is still alive, which might not be the case, considering the fact that the book is our possession now, he or she might still want to take it for themselves." Misaki concluded passively.

"I wouldn't really think that far," Usopp shook his hand from left to right.

"Either way, your fruit must be extremely valuable, Misaki-chan." Sanji spoke softly. "I think it's best if you don't tell anyone what kind of powers you have."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." Zoro muttered.

"What did you say!?"

"You _shitstain_!"

"Here we go again." Nami grumbled, placing a hand to her head, still having the other grasp Luffy's shirt collar.

Then, Misaki collapsed onto the floor.

"Wha- What happened!?" During their fight, Sanji stopped to rush to the young girl's aid.

"I'm fine… I just feel like all of my energy was... drained out of me." Misaki said.

"That's probably due to the Devil Fruit," Robin tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. "Normally, Devil Fruits have one weakness, which is seawater. And since your powers have to do with water, it's not an excellent match."

"So… Anything I do with my water powers will decrease my stamina?" Misaki asked. "I'll get tired really easily?"

"Precisely."

Zoro shook his head. "Anything can be improved. Misaki can just improve her stamina, and she can use her water powers. I don't think that the water'll get in her way, since it's her own power."

"I guess that's right." Luffy said, placing his hand below his chin. "When I first ate my Devil Fruit and started training with it, it drained a lot of my energy. But I adjusted quickly, since I already had a lot of stamina to begin with, at least, since I was born."

"Well, that's not gonna go well for me…" Misaki drawled out, knowing that she had terrible, terrible stamina.

"But the author still wrote about Devil Fruits and the general consensus about them. Which means that the facts that he inscribed should hold true to the Logia Devil Fruits." Robin pointed to the introductory message in the book. "One of the characteristics of a Devil Fruit is that the user will never be able to swim again."

Misaki's eyebrows furrowed.

"Then what's up with Misaki's fruit? She can still swim." Usopp stated.

"True. But maybe it could be because Misaki's controlling the water below her to keep her from drowning." The rubber man suggested.

"Wow, he said something smart for once," Usopp snickered, his hand stifling his laughs.

"I didn't control anything to keep me afloat…" The navy blue haired girl confirmed with a hoarse voice. She sounded as tired as she was if she hadn't slept for a year. "I only helped Luffy get out of the ocean, and I conjured up water."

"You could have been unaware that you were using powers. Maybe you used up so much energy that you forgot about it." Robin argued.

"No," Misaki stood up, her legs shaking. "I can swim." She ran to the edge of the Sunny. "And I'll prove it to you."

"No, Misaki-san!" Brook shouted, but it was too late.

She jumped in. The fall wasn't anything too dramatic, but if she was wrong, she would have been sinking by now. After a while, the Straw Hats noticed something.

The other Straw Hats could tell because they heard little splashing sounds, faint, but enough to keep a human body from completely submerging into the ocean. When they all looked over the edge of the Sunny, they saw her head bobbing in the water, but not submerged so that she couldn't breathe. Her strokes were uneven and unbalanced due to her tiredness, and her head and arms were resurfacing out of the water at syncopated intervals.

"Misaki, are you okay!?" Usopp called from the edge of the Sunny.

"Someone help…" Misaki cried out weakly.

After everyone was kind of frozen and unsure of which person was going to rescue her, Zoro put his hand up in a sluggish way, coding that he would volunteer as tribute to save the weakened Misaki. He walked over to where the girl had jumped off, and dove into the ocean himself. He found her completely submerged, but not sinking, like one would normally do if they were pretty unconscious. Zoro grabbed her by the arms to drag het to the outer wall of the ship. After slinging her over his shoulder, he hopped back onto the deck of the Sunny once again. "I'll take her to Chopper's office."

"Did someone call for meeeAAAAAUUUGH, MISAKI!" The tiny doctor skidded to a halt and his normal jolly expression melted to one of horror when he saw the limp, drenched girl, unconscious and on the most dangerous man's back.

"Oh, Chopper. I have her, I'll put her on the bed."

"WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"She wanted to show us a magic trick."

After the three went into the sick room, everyone else was speechless.

"I have so many questions." Sanji muttered.

"Yeah. Why is Zoro being so nice to Misaki?" Luffy asked.

"And also, how can she swim?" Usopp added indignantly.

"Is she some sort of blob of perfection?" Nami grunted. "Although that's kind of an oxymoron, since a blob is imperfect…"

"You're confusing me now." The rubber man walked closer to the orange haired woman, who scoffed. "Everything confuses you."

"Also, why is he so nice to her!?" The blond cook who had stayed silent for a while blurted out, pulling on his hair. "That shitty swordsman!"

'Well, it _is_ kind of strange that Zoro's being so kind to a complete stranger.' Robin sighed, sitting on a nearby foldout chair, putting her hands to her cheeks and applying an unreadable expression to her face. 'Maybe I was overthinking things. Misaki's just a curious, young girl who's excited to have Devil Fruit powers.' She retraced her thoughts, shaking her head internally. 'No... A strong Devil Fruit, at that. She's dangerous. I think I should still keep an eye on her.'

She raised her arms into a cross, the familiar "X" shape that she had done many times before.

* * *

"Misaki's going to be fine. She doesn't really need sleep, but she does need to rest. Although sleep would be good for her. And a lot of vitamins. Lots of vitamins." Chopper stopped himself from rambling on. "Just- Just don't pressure or hurt her. Okay? Make sure she stays in bed."

"I got it." The swordsman was sitting on a wooden chair, a bit small for him and probably custom made for asses like Franky's.

"I'll be leaving! Just keep an eye on her, I need to check up on Luffy."

"He's probably fine. But go ahead. I won't eat her."

'Are you sure?' Chopper thought internally, a deadpanning expression on his face. But he kept it to himself and left Misaki and Zoro alone.

"I see that you're being a lot nicer to me." Misaki said, pushing her body even further into the sheets.

"Yeah, because I treated you like garbage." Zoro chuckled.

"...I deserved it. I was kinda rude to you, too, so your attitude was understandable-"

"Shut up. Those stupid baby comebacks you made didn't sting at all." Zoro perked up. "But then again, I guess words don't really hurt me."

"Thanks a lot. I don't know whether to be relieved or irritated."

"Be relieved,"

The girl let her head fall into the covers, her mouth now not visible to Zoro because of the blanket. "Did you tell anyone?" Her voice was slightly muffled.

"Tell anyone what? That you were a slave?" The green haired man put his hands to his head. "Nah, I don't really talk that much to my comrades. Besides, everyone on the Sunny thinks I would throw you off the ship if I ever had the chance. Who would believe someone like that?"

"You probably did want to, the first times you talked to me."

There was no response.

"Your silence does you no justice, Zoro."

"Ha, ha."

"Everyone else has the idea that I'm not going to stab you guys in the back. Besides Robin. I don't know what she thinks of me." Misaki sighed.

"Who knows what Robin thinks? She's always a complete mystery."

"But I'm glad I got that out to someone, at least." The girl murmured. "I'd never known what real life was. How people ventured through their lives, how they acted, and how they talked to each other. I could only see that through books and the way the Celestial Dragons and the slave keepers acted." She paused. "I always wondered, 'Is this how normal people act?' And I never thought it was. Because… How…. how sick would you be if you acted normal, chatted with your friends and did regular, day-to-day things other normal people in the world do, when you were enslaving… enslaving and torturing innocent children?"

Zoro stayed silent. He knew she wasn't finished.

"But then I saw you guys. I saw how you acted. And I thought at first that you all were the same as the Celestial Dragons. As the ones who made my life and thousands of other lives a living hell. I knew it wasn't true, but the way I was shaped… for my whole life… Just made me keep all my secrets to myself. I didn't trust you at all. And I'm sorry."

Now, Zoro wasn't one for deep talk. If someone ever consulted him or wanted advice from him, he would usually just ignore them. He just wasn't the thinking type.

But all Misaki wanted him to do was listen. Listen to her pain… all the pain she had manifested inside her heart and mind for the last decade. And in a way, he wanted to talk to her about it too. He didn't just want to listen. He wanted to say something. Maybe give her words of encouragement, or promise to her that he would fucking murder any Celestial Dragon from that point on.

But he didn't say anything.

And that was okay.

"And as I began to talk with you all more, I further realized… how wrong I was."

The man looked up.

"I thought that you guys were actually similar to the Celestial Dragons." Misaki put on a pained expression. "I thought you guys would have the same actions and thinking processes as them. But in reality, although you guys have the same mannerisms and don't really talk in different ways… There's one thing that makes you different from them."

"What?" He asked. "What is it?"

"Emotion."

Misaki coughed. "I never knew how much one thing could change everything. But I've been with you for a couple days. I've lived with the Nobles for my entire life." She put a hand to her forehead. "And yet, I still couldn't see the difference between the two of you when I first met you.

"The way you speak… it is different. It's more different than anything else." She sat upright from the bed, the iron bars below creaking and popping. "You have a human mindset that I'd never seen before with my own two eyes… in Celestial Dragons."

Zoro stayed quiet. Nothing he said would change her outlook on anything, he realized. He wasn't there to comfort her, as he had found out moments ago. He was only there to hear her out.

And he deserved it, since he treated her like shit. (Technically, it wasn't his fault that he was acting suspicious, but he was still guilty.) All her emotions piled up into one ball and thrown at him, each tiny regrettable, forlorn memory, splattering at his face.

She realized this and tried to talk slowly, keeping a steady tempo and letting her passionate feelings slip through her lips a bit at a time.

"Everyone's been through some shit." Zoro countered, but immediately regretted his words. He sounded like such an asshole to this... this child.

There was a moment of quiet.

"...It's wrong and selfish to only talk about me." Misaki said after hesitating. "I'm sorry. For... blurting all of that out on you."

Zoro looked up at the girl in disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What?"

"I said something unreasonable." Zoro muttered. "And you're going to brush it off by apologizing? You've been hiding your true feelings like that your entire life?"

"Are you seriously getting mad because I said sorry?" The blue haired girl leaned on the wall that the sick bed was adjacent to and sighed. "What do you want me to do? You want me to cry and scream, get mad over how wonderful your life is and how shitty mine was?"

"We've _all_ had shitty lives. We've all been picked at and tossed to the ground. But if those experiences don't make you stronger, then you're just not worth anything."

Misaki was silent, her head looking down at her crossed legs that were wrinkling the blankets and bed covers underneath.

"You don't _know_ us. You don't know what we've been through, or what we experienced. You have to grow up and learn to deal with it- accept that it was what you went through and all in all, makes you a better person. How can you say that your struggle is so much bigger than ours, when you have no idea what any of us went through? I went through a lot of pain. Luffy, Nami, literally everyone on this ship. But we changed ourselves and looked on the bright side. And the sooner you learn to grow up and deal with your struggle, the better."

Misaki stayed silent for a little while longer, and that's when Zoro decided that this was his cue to leave the room so that she could have some time for herself. But she stopped him from opening the door when she opened her mouth to speak once again.

"When you guys first rescued me... you saw the me that was trapped on a slave island for my entire life. I was covered in scars, and I was ashamed of them." A tear slid down the girls face, but her expression was unwavering. "That's why, I think, my body just instinctively wanted to get rid of every single one before I could look at myself with them again. That's how much I wanted them gone."

Misaki looked back up at Zoro. "You know about the Fishmen. And you know about the one named 'Fisher Tiger,' right?"

"Yeah. He saved a bunch of slaves." He turned to face the thirteen year old with a heavy sigh.

"Do you know what he did after they were slaves? He covered up the tattoos each slave was given with a new brand."

Zoro cocked his head. So what? It was really admirable of what he did, but what did Fisher Tiger have to do with the current conversation?

Misaki sighed forlornly. "Think about it, Zoro. If you were ever a slave, would you keep the marks you received? Would you hold them on your body, something that would only remind you of those dark days for the rest of your life?"

The swordsman winced, knowing where this argument was heading.

"Out of your own pride after all the battles you fought with your opponents, you kept your scars and used them as a reminder for your own sake. You flaunt your injuries in front of everyone else, to show off your strength." Misaki almost scoffed.

"That's not fair to say-"

"But am I wrong?"

No. She was spot on.

"I still remember every single injury on my body, and each injury courses through my body, into my head, reminding me of their existence every second I live. It hurts that much. And you have the nerve to tell me that I've been through _some shit_?"

Zoro stayed quiet, trying to think of a way to redeem his words, but nothing came up in his head.

"My parents are dead." The blue haired girl murmured softly, but Zoro heard a hoarseness in her voice, like she was about to cry. "I was a baby when it happened, but I know for sure that they were killed.

"My friends have been dying around me my entire life, and are still dying, while I rest on this ship. There's no doubt that the slave owners and torturers are killing even more today to get something out of them about my disappearance." Misaki felt another tear plop off the edge of her jaw and saw the water bind itself with the cotton sheets below.

"I have more deaths I'm responsible for than anyone in this ship. I've killed more people than I can remember, and I can't even think of some of their faces. Not only did I kill them directly, but... but I'd be the cause of their death." She weeped. "I'd make... _stupid_ choices and risk the lives of innocent... innocent children. Even when I wanted to save them, I'd end up doing the complete opposite."

Misaki's body suddenly glowed to reveal the previous transparent scars all over her liquid arms and neck once again, and then returned back to normal.

"You should have rescued another one." She whispered so silently that he almost couldn't hear her.

"What? Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't deserve to escape. I deserved to be kept there!" Misaki let loose and finally looked up at Zoro with a tear-filled face. "I should have died there, I suffered the least and don't even deserve to compare myself with other slaves there! You should have met Cara, or Rex, or..."

Her voice cracked as if everything inside of her just broke into a million pieces, never to be recovered again. "Or... Aika..."

"You don't deserve to die-" Zoro protested, but was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"I've never felt happiness. I've only seen murder and pain across the faces of everyone I've come across. You really think you can compare your struggle with mine?"

Zoro's eyebrows furrowed, but he stayed silent.

"Let me guess, your sister died or something and you decided that it was your duty to become the best swordsman ever and prove to every single person you come across that you're more worthy than anyone. You've been through a lot of pain, but you think of all that pain as medals and trophies of your success." Misaki stared down once again. "Yeah, you sure are living _such_ a hard life!"

Misaki inhaled sharply before continuing, "You've always been in control of your body, so don't even try. Don't try to lecture me about how I complain about my life when you don't even know half of the whole story." She was sobbing uncontrollably now, it was clear in her voice. "You have your friends, your comrades, right beside you, and I have _nothing_. So don't give me that crap that everyone has issues. That doesn't make anything better for me, and no one else in the whole wide world will ever have it worse off than us slaves, so don't you _dare_ try to say that you are on the same level as me, because you clearly don't understand the pain we went through every day of our lives!"

Tears flew and plopped onto the bed sheets, making more wet stains on the blankets.

"I'm sorry, Misaki-"

" _Get out._ Just _leave me alone._ "

Zoro was taken aback. But he complied.

He left without saying another word, a distraught look on his face.

And Robin, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation with her phantom ears in the library, fell to the ground, stifling her sobs in the dark.

* * *

 **Edited May 20th, 2019**

 **Did I do it? Did I make you emotional?**

 **Probably not but that's okay you can be emotional while watching korean elimination shows for k-pop trainees**

 **Please leave a review with criticism, I can take it. *wipes away a tear and gets ready for feedback***


	9. Chapter 9: A Regular Life

**Chapter 9: A Regular Life**

* * *

Misaki trained daily.

No one knew why she even bothered, but they didn't ask her.

She still kept up her daily chores, even though Nami tried to talk her out of it. The orange haired woman probably felt guilty as she was giving Misaki stuff to do, when she obviously had other things to do. And she also wasn't stupid like the majority of the crew- she knew that there was something up with Misaki and she was desperately trying to hide it. Nami got the hint that she could have been abused by her family members, or bullied by some other people in her hometown (But it didn't explain what she was doing in the ocean). Besides, she had been such a tremendous help aboard the Sunny anyway. Without her, Nami would have had to listen to her captain's shrill arguing and whining all the time. But since breakfast, lunch, and dinner was prepared early with Misaki around, it was much quieter, and everyone appreciated it. Just brief silence on the ship was fine, and that's what they got. There was no reason for Misaki to go on with cooking and cleaning.

"I feel obligated to do so." Misaki was as stubborn as a concrete bench, as she was washing a large stack of dishes. "Besides, I don't mind at all. I should be helping out more, since I'm staying here for the time being."

"N-No, I really don't feel comfortable with you continually slaving around for us…" The navigator waved her hand in front of her face to show her opposition.

"...It's really okay, Nami."

"A-Are you sure?"

"Positive. It'll actually make me feel a lot better, since I don't want to be indebted towards you guys." Misaki answered. "But in return, I'd like to train early in the morning and at night, as well, without being disturbed."

"That's… That's a bit hard, considering we have Luffy as a captain." The taller woman answered cheekily. Misaki didn't let out a laugh or even a smile. Robin was passing by and happened to catch the last bits of their conversation. She noticed the never-changing expression on Misaki's face, looked down in sadness, and quickly walked away.

Speaking of the archaeologist, Robin actually opted to not speaking to Misaki at all. Everyone noticed because her silence when the blue haired girl was in the room was so plainly obvious. She ignored her completely, not in a mean, bitchy way, but in a guilty way. Which was weird, since why would Robin feel guilty, right… which was what all the other crew members, excluding misaki and Zoro, were thinking.

Nami really seemed to take a liking to Misaki, but didn't try to talk to her often. She would notice the mood that the navy blue haired girl would set around her- the "don't-you-think-about-touching-me-or-I-will-rip-your-intestines-out" look, and would stay away. Misaki didn't mean any harm, and she always responded when someone asked her something. But she was very unapproachable.

Zoro, on the other hand, hung out with Misaki more often. And to think that they were mortal enemies only a few days ago. The jump was a bit shocking to the other Straw Hats, but they were just relieved that Misaki was finally on mutual sides of all of them. No one felt any emotions of resentment or suspicion and everything was good.

Misaki was the one who asked Zoro to be her spotter, actually. For some hidden reason, she wanted to become stronger, and Zoro, surprisingly, didn't ask for a reason why. To be fair, the green haired man didn't do much besides check what she was doing every so often and giving her critiques on technique and her way of training her body.

In the beginning, Zoro would do his normal training in the morning and at night, and Misaki would follow him into the crow's nest. He would ignore her at first, and she would never ask him to train her- wouldn't ask for advice or tips. So he just naturally got into the habit of commanding her the right ways of exercising and building muscle and stamina. In the end, he was, more or less, teaching the girl how to train.

They always went up to the crow's nest every day, much to Sanji's disdain, and trained together.

"Faster. Faster. _Faster_."

"Shut up, I'm trying!" Misaki was running in circles around the crow's nest. She was running really, really fast.

"It's not fast enough, still." Zoro swung his head down to look at an old looking, rusty timer. He scratched the back of his head. "Can you go any slower? Seriously."

"I'm really trying my best," The girl panted out between huffs of agony.

" _Are you_?" The man challenged.

Those words of arrogance fueled the young girl and she used up her remaining energy to make one more leap.

And then she fell face down on the floor as Zoro stifled his snort.

"Ouch." Misaki muttered, her legs shaking at the terrifying workout she just finished, and her mind going in circles, as if she was still sprinting.

"As I thought, you have the worst stamina I've ever seen in my entire life." The green haired man spoke roughly. "You only lasted for thirty minutes, only running without injury, and you made three hundred laps around this tiny room.

"Isn't three hundred… good?" She looked up, her eyes squinting in confusion. This was a pretty big room, in her opinion.

"Not in my book."

"You have a really annoying book."

"Thanks. And also, you're sweating all over the place. I sleep here most nights, you know."

"This place wasn't exactly in tip top condition when I got here in the first place. Sweat won't make it any worse. And besides, I'll clean up after this every day." The girl answered.

"...Fine." Zoro placed his feet in a dry area while glancing at the floor in disgust.

"I have cramps everywhere," Misaki muttered.

"You wanna quit? Because, I don't have to be doing this-"

"What do I do next?" The girl interrupted quickly, placed her hands on her hip, gaining her strength back slowly. She was determined not to disappoint anyone, including herself, and she wanted to match herself to Zoro's standards. If Misaki couldn't even do that, then she believed she shouldn't even bother trying to fight the Nobles.

"Here ya go." Smiling, Zoro tossed her a jump rope with steel handles on each end.

"This is heavy-"

"That's the point. It helps your upper and lower body strength at the same time." He explained. "Now, jump rope."

After about fifteen minutes, Misaki collapsed to the ground, yet again. Zoro wasn't putting a lot of effort into this teaching thing, either, and although it irked the blue haired girl, she was thankful that he didn't sugarcoat his words with encouragement or phrases like, "Don't overwork yourself."

"I'm dying," Misaki rasped.

"Not to hit a sore spot, but while you were a slave, didn't you do a lot of manual labor?" The swordsman asked slowly and cautiously. "I'm just confused, since right now, you're not even enough to beat Chopper."

"That's harsh on Chopper, I'm sure he's crying his eyes out right now." Misaki scrunched her nose. "Well, I was treated differently when I was a slave. I did all sorts of things- manual labor, tests, cooking and cleaning, etcetera." She fixed her gaze away from Zoro. "It was kind of like they wanted to give me the easiest work possible, the easiest life that a slave could possibly have. Nobles and guards would be really lenient on me and... they'd let me go for pretty much anything."

"So you were the golden child." Zoro scoffed.

"I guess you could phrase it that way," The navy blue haired girl muttered.

The swordsman sighed heavily. "I guess your stamina isn't gonna improve in a few days. But I can help you out with something else." He tossed her a practice sword.

"What…?" Misaki asked, sitting up from the floor.

"It's only wooden, so you'll be fine." Zoro took one for himself and put himself in a fighting stance. Misaki tried to copy him, but she had only read about this stuff in a couple books, so she didn't know what to do.

"I'm not worried about it being wooden. It's still going to hurt like a bitch." Misaki stood up, her hips and feet aching. "I can't go on for any longer, I'm pooped."

"Too bad." Zoro lurched forward, making himself lunge slowly so that she could start off easily.

The catch was, "easily" in Zoro's book was not the same "easily" in Misaki's.

Terrific.

"Hey! You're supposed to tell me when we're starting!" She blocked the wooden rod with her own, her hands vibrating at the first attack.

"When an enemy tries to get you, do they tell you when _they'll_ be starting?" The man asked indifferently, pulling out attack by attack.

Swiftly blocking said attacks wouldn't be enough. She would only run out of stamina and would lose, and both the navy blue haired girl and the marimo acknowledged this. So she also pushed forward, trying to stab the hilt into Zoro's chest.

She missed and hit his waist, which was still good, but not enough.

So then, she skidded back and attacked again, this time with more force and managed to kick the man's back and "slice" his leg as he was stumbling.

"Oh, no, you got me." He spoke in a sarcastic and monotonous way as he tumbled to the ground in an over exaggerated manner.

"You didn't go all out on me." The girl said.

"What if I did? You'll never know." The green haired man answered. His stoic expression soon turned into a small grin, as if he gave up his mysterious facade. "But yes, I really didn't go all out, obviously. I probably won't ever go all out in a fight with you. Because I won't have to. So don't even think about actually trying to murder me in my sleep." He swiped his sword across the air so cleanly that the girl actually felt a ripple passing through her face.

"Great, thanks for the advice. Now what?" Misaki asked.

"We fix your mistakes." He replied in a matter-of-fact way. "And that means we have a lot to fix."

* * *

At the end of the day, Misaki hadn't made as much progress as she hoped because Zoro wasn't the greatest teacher. But he was first on her list since she hadn't ever had a teacher. They didn't really grow any closer, and they were in disbelief that either of them had yet to stab the other in the back, so that goes to show how friendly they were to each other.

She appreciated Zoro's help, though. She'd learned a lot more about offense and defense because of him, and if she'd been where she was at this moment when she was battling during the entertainment times for the Nobles, she would have been able to avoid getting hurt more often.

The blue haired girl had learned to improve her stamina by saving her breath intake and attempting less attacks that wouldn't affect her defense positively. He told her that she had made her stamina better by a few points, but she still sucked.

Misaki also learned basic sword techniques. Zoro, in the beginning, first taught her how to handle a knife if she was left with nothing but that. Then he told her all about the sword and how to use that, as well. He then trained with her for the whole day, with neither of them stopping that much.

Misaki took a bath, using the large bathroom in the crow's nest. After washing up, she wiped her body down and noticed that her legs were covered in bruises and aching, pressured skin.

"Maybe I should try my powers again." She thought out loud, and she concentrated.

Her entire being turned into water.

Misaki was just a human body that was transparent, and when she ran her fingers through herself, she just felt the cool touch of water. It was so cool, but there was something even better.

She wasn't feeling strained at all.

'Could I keep this up for a while?' The girl asked herself. 'Let's wait it out,'

Five minutes passed, and she was still in her water form.

Ten.

Twenty.

Zoro was kind of getting annoyed outside the bathroom and knocked on the door angrily. "Are you shitting or something, Misaki!?"

"I'm not!" She undid the transformation and looked down at her legs once again. They were healed and good to go. The best part was, she didn't feel tired at all. Misaki kind of expected that her water form would store up all the energy drained and then release it all after she transformed back, but no. She was still good to go, and feeling much better than before.

'I bet other things wouldn't apply the same way, though.' She frowned, and wrapped a towel around her body.

"Finally. Get outta here so I can shower." He pushed her out of the way and hurried into the room. Misaki's frown only deepened.

She slipped on her clothes she had left outside because she didn't want them to become soggy from the steam of the bath.

The crow's nest was definitely her favorite place in the Sunny, the library being a close second. There was something so unique and calming about the area, where you could open the windows and just look out at the night sky, or you could just bring a blanket to the place and sleep there. It was also so spacious, which was also kind of a pain, since it made running during training an annoying aspect. Misaki thought that having the roof of the crow's nest being made entirely out of glass would have been an even better addition, but she was still content with where she was.

Indeed, the crow's nest was definitely her favorite place.

She wished she could live here.

"You still haven't told me why you started going at it so suddenly." A cold beverage slid towards her leg as she grabbed it and opened the can lid.

"Where did you get this?" Misaki asked.

"I had a mini fridge installed in here for important reasons." Zoro replied, his face completely stoic when he said it. He was wearing a T shirt and sweatpants, and it wasn't something Misaki was used to, since she had always seen him wear that stupid robe.

"Don't ignore my question. Why'd you start training?" Zoro asked.

Misaki didn't answer Zoro for a few seconds, trying to think of a response that seemed logical enough.

"I dunno... I guess I wanted to increase my stamina? I don't know the reason behind it becoming so low in the first place, so I might as well try to regress back to my regular self so that everything goes back to normal again." She finally answered promptly.

"I see. It's important to get stronger, but it's also important to remember your limits. You're still young, and you need to take care of yourself. Going all out and training from dusk till dawn like I did when I was your age isn't going to help you." Zoro responded cooly. Misaki frowned.

"I hoped that it would make some kind of impact."

"It will. Just remember to pace yourself, is all I'm saying."

There was a calm silence between the two.

"...Are you going to tell anyone?"

"Hm? About what?"

"Me being a slave."

"Should I?" The green haired man responded jokingly. Misaki pursed her lips in annoyance, signaling to the marimo that his offer was out of the question.

"...Maybe. You never know what'll happen in the future." Zoro answered seriously.

"...For the time being, can you not? I think everyone aboard this ship is a good person. I just don't know if they should hear it at this point. I don't know if it's the right time," She mumbled. Then, the girl turned back to stare at Zoro. "Still, are you really okay with training me and wasting your time, all jokes aside?"

"It helps me concentrate on my strength, too. Besides, no one else on the Sunny understands why I train all day. It's actually kind of satisfying to know that there's one more regimen freak on the Sunny besides me." The swordsman explained. "I don't mind at all."

"...Really?"

"Yep."

The girl couldn't understand the people of the Straw Hat crew. Surprisingly, even the Celestial Dragons she had been forced to be near were more comprehensible than the people she was staying with at the present time. Especially Zoro. Misaki could obviously tell that he hated her ass for some reason or another, and she never knew what made him change so fast… from being a rude, bitchy man to a kinder, less-bitchy one in only a day.

In the end, Misaki knew that the one person she grew closest to, ever, was going to be Zoro.

The girl took a sip out of the cool juice. "This isn't alcohol, right?"

"No. I know you're thirteen, okay?" He tapped at his own bottle. "This is, though."

"I hate alcohol." She sniffed and toweled off her hair as she used her free hand to practice her new magic.

"Why?" He questioned, now curious. The girl fidgeted as she sat, playing with her fingers.

"It... changes a person." Misaki's words trailed off as she thought back to all the times drunk Celestial Dragons and torturers made a day of a slave prominently worse. She didn't want to remember those times, but she couldn't shake the painful images out of her head.

He didn't pry.

After some more comfortable silence, Misaki said, out of the blue, "Hey, I never apologized for my outburst."

"Hah?"

"The stuff I said… In the sick room."

Zoro sighed. "You were stressed. You had to release that energy and emotion on _someone_. I get it."

"No… When I look back at it, I was being selfish. And most of the stuff I said was uncalled for." Misaki grumbled.

"It's fine, really. Sure, you sounded immature and I honestly didn't understand most of the stuff you were talking about," Zoro took a second to drink his beer, "but in the end, I said some ignorant stuff, too. You're only thirteen and you had to go through that stuff." His facial expression twisted into more of a saddened one. "And even if you weren't directly suffering all of the pain you expressed on me, it still sucks to see the people you love getting hurt."

Misaki nodded, looking down.

"I might not have been a slave, but I do understand a portion of where you're coming from. Your outburst was understandable." He patted- albeit, kind of awkwardly- her shoulder and attempted a kind grin. "It's fine. No need to apologize."

"You're not that good at smiling." Misaki deadpanned.

"...Aaaand I regret being wholehearted to you already." He quickly removed his hand from her and made a face.

The blue haired girl twirled water around her wrist and her fingers as the viscous-looking liquid dripped from her palm to her leg as it turned back into her flesh. She then controlled the water to turn into different shapes of animals and plants.

"That's cool. Are you enjoying yourself?" Zoro combed through his grass-like hair.

"I guess so. But it's strange."

"Just strange?"

"It's _cool_ , I guess. But now that I can manipulate water, it just feels weird. Since I've been living without the power for my whole life and I just received it now. It just doesn't come naturally for me.

"I guess you're right. You'll get used to it soon enough. I mean, look at the rest of the crew. They all use their powers smoothly, too."

The thirteen year old sighed. "I guess so,"

The crow's nest was peaceful, and Misaki decided to sleep there from now on, instead of in the kitchen. The kitchen was nice, but Luffy just coming in and stealing snacks out of the refrigerator every thirty minutes, thinking that Misaki was asleep, was irritating and sleep-depriving.

"Hey, can I just sleep here?" Misaki asked.

"Hell no. I train here at night."

"I don't really care." She shrugged.

"I'm not talking about you, your presence'll... disturb my concentration."

"Oh." Misaki looked down. "I'll be sleeping so you won't notice me, either way. And also, if you train in the night, it's thirty three percent less effective than when you're training in the day."

"Why do you even know that useless statistic?" The green haired man's eye twitched.

"I dunno. I read a lot, and I recall everything I read, I guess." Misaki shrugged and pointed at Zoro's nose. "Thirty three percent," she repeated, as if she were making a point.

"But seventy seven percent of that effect is still there." Zoro pointed out with a completely expressionless face.

"...Are you serious?"

"What?"

"Thirty three percent. Not twenty three percent." Misaki replied. "It would be sixty seven percent left. Are you an idiot?"

Zoro shook his head. "No, if you subtract seven from ten you get three. Seven-seven subtracted from ten-ten is three-three!"

"No, that's not how math fucking works, Zoro."

"You're a goddamn liar. Look, see." The swordsman tried to prove his point by using an equation that was completely algebraically incorrect.

With a sharp wave of her hand, Misaki let circular droplets of water appear into the air from her arms until there were one hundred that formed a square shape. Zoro was a little startled by the sudden magic trick, but he regained his composure in a heartbeat.

"I'll take out thirty three." Misaki noted.

She counted out loud and reached thirty three water droplets. Zoro started counting after those drops of water were removed, and reached to sixty seven in total.

"No. No! Bullshit, you probably conjoined a few of them!"

"No, you just suck at math." The girl pulled the remaining water back into her hands and pulled out a blanket from the benches. "G' night, I'm tired."

"I said you can't sleep here!"

"Zzzzz."

"You fucking piece of shit!"

* * *

In the morning, Sanji made breakfast and Misaki climbed down from the crow's nest after freshening up in the bathroom.

"Did you have a good night's rest, Misaki-chan?" The cook smiled brightly when she walked in through the door.

"Yes, I did." Misaki responded, stepping in to do the dishes.

"No, no, you can sit. I finished preparing the food."

"I'll wash the dishes, I have nothing else to do anyway." She insisted, and started to clean the dirty cups and plates in the sink.

Soon after, the other Straw Hats came into the kitchen to eat breakfast and Misaki was forced to stop so she could eat at the table with them, as well.

"So, how's your training going, Misaki?" Nami interrogated, putting her hands under her chin as her elbows were supported by the table.

"It's okay. Zoro helps me out a lot, so I think I'll be able to better my stamina."

"Zoro? Helping?" Nami whispered into Robin's ear and giggled. "No way."

"Can you show me what you can do?" Luffy exclaimed, pounding his fists onto the table as food bounced up from his plate. Misaki set her mind on the fact that Luffy held the brain of a little kid and probably wasn't going to get anywhere with the ladies any time soon.

She held out her hand so that it reached the middle of the table, and the rubber man, who was sitting three seats away from her, stretched out his neck to watch what she was doing.

Her entire hand turned to water and started to separate, as the droplets swirled around her clear fingers and created intricate designs and patterns on her liquid skin.

"Woah…" The Straw Hat Pirates gasped in shock.

"I can turn into water at will. So that's a plus. I can keep in this form for around thirty minutes straight until I start to tire out really quickly. If I cancel the transformation every twenty minutes and wait for five minute intervals to switch back to water, I can use my powers that way." She sighed. "But I'm hoping to just be able to use the water transformation for a really long time without getting too strained."

"That's still really cool, Misaki!" Luffy shouted out. "I can turn into rubber, but I can't control rubber. And I can't make my rubbery-ness turn into cool shapes like that." He pouted.

"All I can do is frighten little children with my bones." Brook sat at a corner of the table with an emo aura surrounding his skeleton.

"Oh." was all Misaki could offer.

"I mean, Misaki's fruit is a Logia type. That must be the reason why there's so much she can do with her powers." Chopper reminded his captain.

"Come to think of it, there aren't any Logias on this ship," Usopp pointed out. "Luffy, Chopper, Robin, and Brook are all Devil Fruit users, but none of them are Logia types."

"Must be pretty rare, I guess," Franky deduced while sucking on a paper straw that belonged to his cola bottle.

"Hey, do you guys know about the..." As Usopp continued speaking, the Straw Hat pirates and Misaki engaged in conversations and small talk throughout breakfast. After they finished eating, Luffy followed Misaki and Zoro upstairs to check out what they were doing to train.

While Misaki was busy running and lifting heavy objects while she was at it, Zoro gave her harsh pointers as he lifted large weights in a sitting position. The straw hatted boy sweat dropped at the amount of effort and seriousness they were putting into their training.

"Say, Misaki… Why'd you decide to start working out?" The captain asked while sitting on the benches.

"...Just because…" The girl lied. Zoro let a cough out of his mouth.

Just then, there was a shout. "It's a Marine ship, guys!"

Luffy perked up and jumped to his feet. "Seriously!? Ahhh, they never leave us alone!"

"What's this all about?" Misaki turned to Zoro.

"Well, we _are_ pirates. And this is a pirate ship…"

Nami pointed at the horizon, and sure enough, a large ship with the words, "MARINE" inscribed on the wall was approaching their own. The orange haired navigator reached to pull out her Clima Tact for preparation of battle, but Zoro stopped her. "Wait."

"What are you saying, Zoro? We'll get shot at-!"

"Misaki! Come down here!" The swordsman called.

She jumped down from the crow's nest and landed on her feet without stumbling, which wasn't too crazy, considering that the Straw Hat pirates were her spectators, but it was still a little strange and surprising, since the jump was so smooth and almost satisfying to watch.

"Show off," Zoro grunted.

"What was that?" Misaki asked with authentic curiosity in her voice.

"Yeah, never mind." The swordsman responded. "Anyway, there's a problem, so let's see what you can do with it."

Misaki looked at the ship and back at her mentor. "You want me to sink their ship?"

"Sure. Go ahead." Zoro folded his arms across his chest. "Honestly, it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you kick their asses."

"Wait, wait, wait! What're you up to, shitty marimo!?" Now, Sanji and the rest were at the deck of the Sunny, staring at the Marines and the plot-filled Zoro.

"I just want to see what she's capable of." He smirked.

"She's still a young lady-"

"And I wanna fight, too!" Luffy pushed the cook's face away with his rubbery hand for a chance to protest.

"Nope. Not right now." Zoro put a hand on Misaki's shoulder. "For now, let's see what she can do."

There was a moment of silence and anticipation for what Misaki would say. Finally, she breathed out and put her hands on her hips.

"I guess I can give it a shot."

"Knock 'em out," Zoro cheered without the enthusiasm necessary.

"Shut up."

"Misaki, you don't have to do this… You're still healing-" Chopper muttered, reaching his tiny arms out.

"I'd like to see what I'm capable of, as well." The blue haired girl interrupted. "Sorry, Chopper, but I want to go. But I'll be fine."

She dove into the water and took a moment to let the salty water surround her. She started swimming toward the ship. But then, she realized something. She'd never really went submerged herself underwater, well, at least, fully, after she swallowed the Devil Fruit. Misaki opened her eyes to see what exactly she was submerged in.

Blue.

Blue was everywhere, and if she really focused her vision enough as her head was facing downward, she could see little schools of fish, glimmering silver under the sunlight, swimming around and pieces of coral floating in the liquid abyss everyone called the sea.

She didn't know why, but being in the ocean enthralled her. It was such a superb feeling, and she wanted to stay like it forever. But she had to resurface for air-

Or did she?

Misaki pondered on it. She could probably do it.

She took a breath.

And breathed out.

Breathed in.

Out.

In.

Out.

It was as if she had done it for her entire life, but the feeling was so new. Misaki was breathing underwater. It was surreal, but at the same time, natural, as if she were breathing air. She opened her mouth and shouted. She could hear her own voice clearly, but had intuition that her voice would be heard differently or not heard at all in the ocean. Misaki was enthralled at how comforting the ocean was making her new experiences. Everything was so easy.

The blue haired girl, with this new talent, could concentrate more on fighting the opponent in front of her. She opened her mouth and spoke to the vast ocean,

"Come."

The currents suddenly changed, and the once calm waves turned to ferocious ripping ones. These waves, however, felt like air breezing through the girl, and she wasn't swayed by them at all, even though she could clearly see that it probably would have killed a normal human being.

"Calm down." Her angelic voice attempted to soothe the waters.

The waves calmed, and over the sea, Luffy and Usopp were flung on the other sides of the Sunny, half-knocked out and dizzy from the throttling of the current.

"What was that!?" Nami held onto the railing of the ship, even though the waves had ceased to little splashes once again.

Zoro was on the deck, sitting and bewildered. "Misaki."

The thirteen year old focused on the currents from the Marine's side, trying to avoid her ship so it wouldn't stir any trouble for the Straw Hats. She dragged the Marine ship to her direction quickly, surprising the pirates on the Sunny tremendously.

'I did that?' Misaki thought.

You could hear the clamour coming from the Marine ship as they yelled and shrieked in confusion.

"What's going on!?"

"How did we get here…?"

"I-It's the Straw Hat Pirates and their ship! Attack!"

Misaki wondered why she wasn't running out of energy. She thought long and hard about it. There wasn't any obvious reason or pattern behind her powers- they just had so many obstacles and benefits that were each so individual in comparison to each other, she just didn't know what to do with them.

The blue haired girl wondered if she could conjure up any water attacks as she pushed her body upwards to get out of the water. She looked at the Straw Hat Pirates, who were all whooping and gawking in surprise as they faced the Marine ship that was around the same size as their own Sunny.

"S-Should we fight?" Nami asked no one in particular, hesitantly grasping for her weapon.

"Not yet." The marimo put a hand before the Straw Hats. "Let's see what she does first."

'He definitely wants someone to die,' Usopp, in the background, slumped in defeat at the swordsman's stubbornness.

On the other side, the Marines were all confused and chaotic about the entire situation. "Where the hell is the captain!?"

"I- Don't ask me!"

Misaki started to experiment.

She flicked her wrist in the direction of the water she was floating by, and the ocean reacted strangely. First, it created a geyser in that direction and scared the living crap out of some Marines who were close by the area.

She then knew what to do.

The girl snapped her fingers as her hand was pointed towards the center of the ship, where most of the actual structure and vitals of the said ship were located. The same type of geyser sprung up, leaving a gaping hole in the center of the ship as water began to fill it up at a dramatic speed.

"W-Was that Misaki!?" The long nosed sniper slammed his hands to the railing of the Sunny in shock.

"Probably." Zoro answered.

"What do you mean, 'probably!?'"

"It could be her. That's what it means." He stated, as if it were obvious. In some sense, it was. But it wasn't the answer Usopp was looking for.

"She's still healing from that ocean incident from when we first found her, and she just started training, albeit at a hardcore rate, days ago…" Brook tapped his bony fingers on his bony chin. "How did she improve, and at such a fast pace?"

"Yeah…" Sanji muttered. "It's strange. There's only so little a human being can do. With one move, she sank an entire Marine ship."

A short moment of silence ensued.

"...She has a good teacher." Zoro spoke slowly, and his lips curled into a smug smile.

"Shut the fuck up, marimo."

As Marines desperately tried to get on the tiniest life boats and retreated, Misaki submerged herself underwater again so that she wouldn't be caught. She swam towards the Sunny and popped her head from the sea quickly, snapping her fingers so a geyser would appear below her feet to act as an elevator to get back up on the ship.

And surprise, surprise. Her energy was still at a good level. Naturally, she would feel tired by a lot, since she was swimming and discovering new methods and techniques. But, it was better than before. The girl didn't feel so drained and powerless, and she still had an adequate amount of fuel left in her body so that she didn't collapse on the grassy deck of the Sunny.

"Misaki!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper all rushed to the girl. Then, they stopped. They took a quick glance at her and gasped.

"You're not wet!"

"I'm not?" Misaki viewed her arms and ran her fingers through her hair. It was true.

But it didn't make any sense!

The first time she entered the water after she consumed the Devil Fruit, she was wetter than the ocean itself.

And now, she was drier than the Straw Hats, who hadn't jumped into the sea as she did. Granted, her clothes were soggy, but her actual self was completely untouched.

Was she waterproof now?

"That's incredible!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Oh, and I can also breathe underwater." The navy blue haired girl added.

"Are you kidding me!?" Usopp screamed. "Why have you not given me a thing!? God! Buddha! _Anyone_!" The sniper uselessly called out into the sky, itching for some sort of response.

"It sure is weird, since you did swallow a Devil Fruit," Ignoring the long nosed man behind him, Chopper murmured in deep thought. Misaki was also wondering about that for a while, even if her powers correlated to water. She still shouldn't have been allowed to swim.

"Were you the one controlling the waves?" Robin asked, bewildered. Misaki nodded.

"And the geysers?" Another shake of the head going up and down.

She internally pumped her fists in satisfaction.

She was doing well.

Right?

* * *

"We've reached a city island!" Nami cheered, jumping up and down excitedly because of the chance that she could do some shopping and pickpocketing. She had her ginger hair tied in a cute, messy bun, wearing a pink and white crop top and camo pants. Misaki never really gave two whoops, but Nami was actually really pretty.

"The girls and Chopper will look around and do all the shopping we need to do. The rest of you stay here and guard the ship." Robin declared. "If you want to leave, then you can, but always keep someone in the Sunny."

"And always keep _Zoro_ and _Luffy_ in your peripheral vision!" Nami growled, noticing that the captain of the ship was already trying to sneak out of the Sunny.

"Aww, come on!"

"Hey. Are you guys really going to be okay?" The long nosed man asked, putting his hand on Nami's shoulder.

"It's going to be fine!" The orange haired woman brushed him off gently. "We'll just restock and look around, and come right back! And besides, we're girls. We can defend ourselves."

"And we have Misaki!" Chopper skipped around in glee.

"I'm probably not going to be of any use…" The navy blue haired girl disagreed.

"You can literally breathe underwater," Usopp deadpanned.

After Nami's shopping team waved their goodbyes to the Sunny team, they headed to the central commercial area, where everything had been modernized. There were clean cut, cement blocks lining the pathways instead of the dirt paths the Straw Hats were used to. There were tiny openings every three or four blocks where small sprigs of grass would pop out and show off a little nature in the technology infused town. The shops were all different sizes, and they were blasted in many colors that were pastel-like and also some in neutral, black-to-white tones.

"Wow… They must have a lot of stuff here!" Nami cheered.

"There's a lot of people, too." Misaki looked around at the vast crowd, bustling about and getting to where they needed to go.

"You know, this reminds me so much of a romance novel setting~!" The navigator jumped up and down while squealing. "It's so picture perfect. Just look at the couples in bicycles and the adorable shops."

"Do we have any money, though?" Robin asked. "In the city-like areas, prices tend to explode."

"...We have around nine thousand beri right now…" Chopper muttered.

"Plus this…" Nami lifted a purse filled with her own money. "I might have around ten thousand."

"Why do you have more than the ship's savings?" Misaki frowned.

"Ehehe."

"Well, we need to restock on cola, food, and Nami wanted to buy fans. Plus a lot of other things to fix the ship and help Franky's new project that's going on, we're going to have to buy the cheapest items on the market." The archaeologist sighed.

"Food won't be an issue, because Sanji can make anything taste good." The orange haired woman murmured. "But I'm sure that the more elaborate stuff'll cost us a pretty penny,"

They all slumped to the ground of the city in the realization that they were very poor for one of the most infamous pirates on the block. Misaki stayed standing and watched her friends become gloomy.

"I think I can help with that," The navy blue haired girl said.

"How?" Nami asked.

"You guys start shopping in a mall, and I'll come back with more money." Misaki explained. "Pick a big one, where you can pay for most of it together." (like an Ikea)

"...O-Okay… but don't be late!" Nami hollered as Misaki started running back to the Sunny's direction.

'It's so much easier for me to run now, since Zoro put me through that regimen.' Misaki realized, and kept accelerating in speed. She sped down a small cliff and jumped down, seeing the Straw Hats helping Franky out with his new bedroom project.

"Oh, Misaki!" The blue haired shipwright called. Everyone turned to see the girl, and they all switched glances with each other in confusion.

"Why are you here? Did you forget something?" Zoro questioned.

"I needed money," Misaki answered simply.

"Chopper took out all the Sunny's savings. And you'll never be able to find Nami's stash."

"I'm not going to steal from anyone," She faced the marimo. "And besides, that money's not enough. At all."

"How much?" Luffy asked. He was carrying a heavy looking box of building tools and had a chocolate bar in his mouth.

"Nineteen thousand."

"Hah!? That's a lot!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Not enough. The city island charges for much higher prices."

"We don't have money… What are you going to do, Misaki?" Usopp cocked his head.

"Yeah, you should have known, and they should have told you." The swordsman shrugged his shoulders.

Misaki ignored them and walked to the sea. She crouched down and felt the sand tickling her feet, since her flip flops from Nami were barely working out as footwear. She made ripples in the sea with her fingers and brought her hand out, which was now wet with seawater.

The others went back to what they were doing.

The thirteen year old girl whispered to the ocean as she leaned closer into the water,

"Sunken treasure,"

Instantly, in the water, several sparks of light were already glistening from the sun's glare. Misaki's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that actually worked. She tried something else out, saying, "Starfish."

Instantly, a red starfish was geyser'd out of the water. Misaki made an effort to catch the poor creature with both hands, mumbled a small apology (which was most definitely useless), and tossed it back into the ocean.

'So it works!' Misaki thought.

"Sea turtle,"

Out came a cute baby turtle, confused and eyes blown wide.

"Twenty four karat gold block."

It landed with a 'clunk' on the sand.

She took a step back.

She turned her hand into water.

Gold coins and little diamonds flew out of the water, stayed in the air for seconds, and dropped into her hand.

Until both her hands were full, she didn't do anything. When she was satisfied, she used her hand to push it toward her body, as a command to the ocean to stop. A few diamonds and jewels plopped onto the ground because of this sudden action, and she stooped down to pick them up.

At the same time, the water stopped sending coins.

Okay, so she didn't have to say the object out loud. The ocean could read her mind. Fantastic.

"Misaki, are you still here?" Usopp walked to the back of the ship, where Misaki had cast her spell. "Woah! What's in your hand!?"

"Gold and diamonds." The blue haired girl responded nonchalantly as she looked down at her full hands.

"H-HOW!?"

She pretended not to know. "They appeared in my hand," she said with a shrug.

"WHAT!?" Usopp immediately dropped to the ground and went in search for jewels.

"Do you want one?" Misaki asked, picking out a nice looking diamond for the long nosed man.

"Oh, seriously!?" The sniper swiped it out of her fingers. "I won't tell anyone it was you! Thanks~!"

Misaki waved as he left to continue his work on the Sunny, stuffing the diamond into his shirt pocket. She waited for him to leave, and once he disappeared from her peripheral vision, she began to walk away from the ocean as well, but a thought grabbed her attention and forced her to stop in her tracks.

'How do I know how much these coins and jewels are actually worth, though?' Misaki wondered. True, they could have lost their value over time, and maybe some of these things weren't even worth a loaf of bread. So she wanted to be sure with the amount of money she would be carrying. Misaki let her valuables drop to the rocky ground and looked all around to make sure no one was watching her. She collected more wealth from the sea into her hands. Scooping up all of her new possessions, the blue haired girl departed the Sunny's shore area and speed-walked back to the central city.

* * *

 **Edited May 16th, 2019**

 **how do you write not cringey-ly**

 **Thank you all for reading and leaving positive feedback. I'm glad at least one person has been honest about my character (not gonna call them out obviously) and I kind of agree. I structured the protagonist to be gifted with looks, intelligence, and a dump truck of other redeeming qualities but I also made her quite young, so please forgive her for going off at Zoro that one time. She was a slave for a while, and that was the set past I'd given her. Slaves in One Piece are treated quite terribly, as most of you are all familiar with their introductions in Sabaody Island.**

 **Please review! Heyheyhey~**


	10. Chapter 10: Adjustments And Surprises

**Chapter 10: Adjustments And Surprises**

* * *

 **oof I'm back with a poorly edited chapter that's 10,000+ words lol**

* * *

"Here. Money."

Misaki handed Nami a neat stack of folded bills.

The Straw Hats were in a shopping mall of some sort, where the main logo of the building was a cat with a pink baseball cap. Nami and the others were in the electronics section, checking out different brands of fans.

"E-Ehhhhh!?" The orange haired woman screamed in the store, causing customers to turn and whisper. She opened her eyes as she noticed her surroundings and apologized accordingly with a bow, and then turned back to Misaki, hissing, "How did you get this money!?"

"I found it." She prompted.

" _No, you fucking didn't_ ,"

"Just take the money," Misaki ordered, thrusting the wad of beri out for the navigator to take.

"How much is that…?" Robin asked, astounded.

"...I'm guessing around... " Nami flipped through the bills with her nimble thumbs. "F-Five hundred thousand beri…!?"

Misaki had gone to a shop where the workers would exchange jewelry and pure gold or silver for beri, and it turned out the diamonds were worth a lot more than she had expected. The coins, however, proved to be a disappointment. But she came out of that store overwhelming the workers to the point where she just stopped asking for trades out of pity, and she also walked out with a lot more paper money than what the Straw Hats originally had _all together_. So, she was more than satisfied.

"Woah! How did you get that much, Misaki!?" Chopper skidded back in shock.

"I found it." The navy blue haired girl repeated.

"Bullshi-" Nami started, but got a hint from the scary aura the mothers with their children in the store omitted.

'Actually, I wouldn't find it hard to believe if Misaki asked for money on the streets and people gave her that much in total,' Chopper thought. 'Her face is too stunning to resist…'

"Okay, then, let's buy everything on our list, then." Robin interrupted, stopping Nami's interrogation to Misaki for now.

The girl breathed out in relief. She knew that even if Nami and the others were nice people who wouldn't take advantage of her newfound powers, she could never trust what they would do if they found out that she could conjure all the forgotten riches of the deepest parts of the sea. She needed that money, either way, so she was required to protect every spare amount that was left in the water.

Back to reality: Nami split up the money so everyone could buy new things. Misaki decided that since she had brought the money to them, she had the right to keep at least a portion of it (without Nami knowing that she had a good amount- and when I say "good," I mean _pretty good_ , like, a lot of money), and decided to walk around the malls and stores alone (with Nami's permission, of course) and find some new clothes and shoes. She didn't want to be walking around in shirts that fit her like dresses and bras that were too many sizes up for her chest. Thanks, Nami.

"Come in, come in." A man with that typical "sales clerk" look bowed to her respectfully. He smiled with his eyes closed, but when he opened them again, he frowned.

It was true that Misaki was beautiful, any moron could see that. But he had his head bowed, so the first thing his eyes came in contact with was the horribly baggy shirt.

"Uhh… Miss, this is actually a very high-end store. You might not be able to afford our outfits..." He arched his body back up and took a single glance at the girl's face.

Her brown eyes, although monotone and cool, captivated him in an instant. He blabbered out insufficient words in the beginning, and then completely went still, as if someone shot him in the stomach.

"You were saying?" Misaki asked, cocking an eyebrow.

The gorgeousness captured the simple sales clerk. He bowed once more and stuttered out, "M-My apologies… F-Feel free to try a-anything on."

"Thank you."

She looked around and found a lot of appealing clothes. But she only wanted the simplest. So she chose a white tank top that flowed out so you could make it puffy if you stuffed the ends into your pants, a denim jacket that would serve well to the cold, a pair of black denim pants, red exercise shorts, and a coat for the winter islands. She also picked out a few pairs of underwear, socks, and one pair of combat boots. Misaki was okay with wearing Nami's flip flops.

But because she overestimated her price limit, Misaki decided to shop for some more stuff.

'Can't help that. It's my first shopping spree, and everything looks so amazing.' She thought. 'I never thought that picking out clothes would be such a refreshing experience…' Misaki chose out a few more shirts, since a tank top probably wasn't going to be enough. She also picked out the same style of exercise shorts that was already in her cart, only colored black, and grabbed a pair of sneakers that looked comfortable with their sleek design and cushioned insole.

"How much for everything?" Misaki placed everything on the counter and glanced at the woman who was working behind the cashier. She rolled her eyes, her face glued to the rubix cube in her hands. She watched as the woman's nimble looking fingers twirled around the rows of the colored cubes to try and solve the puzzle without an actual strategy.

"Ahem, I asked, how much?" Misaki cleared her throat, seemingly snapping the cashier worker out of her rubix cube daze, as the latter placed her toy on the counter and got to business.

Without looking up, she sighed, took one look at the clothes, and clicked her tongue, mumbling, "Rich kids," probably thinking that Misaki couldn't hear it.

The woman grabbed the clothes and scanned each one of them with a strange, old looking device that was attached to the register with a twisted cord. Finally, she inputted a few digits into the board of keys with her extra long, blue fingernails. The final price flashed up in front of Misaki's eyes without warning, and she internally shrieked at the high numbers, not expecting half as much as the cost of all her clothes. She gingerly pulled out the stack of bills she had kept to herself.

"Here." She counted the amount out to the girl, who took the money while popping some bubble gum into her mouth as she drawled out, "Thank you for your purchase," in a bored tone.

"Do you mind if I change into these clothes in one of your dressing rooms?"

"Go for it,"

"Thanks." The navy blue haired girl rushed to a dressing room and changed into her new clothes.

Again, she felt so refreshed, since this was her first outfit she had ever worn that she had actually picked out for herself.

Misaki walked out of the store with a new confidence in herself, also carrying two bags filled with the clothes she wasn't wearing from the shop that she had taken for herself because the cashier lady was too lazy to. She then just strolled around the city area to immerse herself in the culture she was missing out on for all these years of her life, taking in the imagery that even the best books she had read could not give her.

"Misaki?"

The girl turned her head to look at Zoro, who was frozen in a kind-of strange stature, as if he had been paused while running.

"Zoro? What're you doing here?"

"... Uhh… I…. M-More importantly, what are _you_ doing alone?" He questioned, reverting back to a normal pose while folding his arms against his chest. "And you got new clothes?"

"I was shopping. And looking around."

"How much money have you got on you right now?" The swordsman asked with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Uhhh, about one to two hundred thousand…" She estimated.

"Seriously? Let's go drink some booze." He grabbed her by her new jacket, but she brushed his hand off. "No way. I'm not going into a bar. I hate the smell of beer."

"You don't have to come in with me. Just give me some money, please."

"No, I'm definitely not supporting your unhealthy lifestyle, either. And also, beg with hopefulness in your tone, not assurance. Your plea sounded more like a statement than a question."

"You owe me, either way. Besides, I've been drinking since I was fifteen. I think I'll be fine."

She thought for a moment.

She really didn't want to give him any of her precious money. Going into that high end store was a mistake, since it drained a lot of money- more than she expected. She should have noticed that it was an upscale shop, but she'd been stupid and pranced in like she owned the place. And now, she was stuck with this nagging, apparently broke pirate who was thirsty and definitely had an alcohol problem.

"I don't!"

"Oh, did I say that last part out loud?" Misaki covered her mouth with a hand in fake surprise. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't... have an alcohol problem, okay?"

"Your breath always smells like beer and the first time I toured the entire Sunny, I found at least one barrel in every single room and hallway." Misaki explained. "There was even a glass of champagne in the bath."

"Okay, not fair, since that was Nami's... or maybe Robin's." Zoro pointed out.

Misaki let out a loud, annoyed sigh. Oh, well. A few beris wouldn't hurt. "Fine. I'll give you money." She rolled her eyes when his expression turned from a regular Zoro to a kinda happier Zoro.

"Yesss-"

"But first! You have to help me pick out a weapon." She interrupted him. "I can't just rely on my water powers. They must have some kind of limit, so I'd like to use those sword skills you've been helping me with, too."

"Fair enough. But you'd better give me a lot of money, since I've been training you for the past few days."

"Okay, then."

Together, they switched glances of agreement with each other and looked around for a store that would sell weapons, and more specifically, swords.

"By the way, how did you end up here?"

"I… was walking around…"

"...Did you get lost?"

"Fuck no!"

"Do you get lost easily?"

"I told you that I didn't get lost!" Zoro argued.

"Then why aren't you with anyone else?"

"Because I decided to go out alone."

"...Whatever you say,"

"You probably think that they have no faith in me at all." Zoro crossed his arms over his chest and snorted in disdain.

"That was the _exact_ thought that crossed my head," Misaki hummed, looking around at the vibrant lifestyle of the residents in this island.

"Oh, fuck off."

"By the way, hold one of my bags."

"Jesus, you're becoming Nami…"

"It's just one bag, Zoro. Man up. I have no other clothes, and you can look at whatever's inside, since it's just my coat."

Their conversation was minimal because they really had no other thing to talk about, and also, they found their first stop quickly. Apparently, this city had stores that sold weapons, just not in the main, central area. They had walked away from the busy, urban streets and into the more deserted areas. There were small vending markets which were completely open air and were presenting strange goods, such as vials filled with whatever and herbs.

They went inside a tavern where the door was literally just _gone_ , and was replaced by beaded strings hanging from the top of the frame. Zoro wrinkled his nose, giving off the vibe in which he knew that this was _not_ a place where he would normally go to buy swords.

"Zoro? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just that I don't think that this is a weapon selling store…"

She cocked her head. "But the sign said 'Mister Weapons…'"

"Mister Weapons… Mister Weapons…" Zoro closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. He couldn't think straight with the intoxicating amount of perfume flourishing the room.

Wait.

Perfume…

Mister Weapons…

That wasn't a name you gave a weapons store, even if the exact word, "weapons," was used.

Zoro came to the realization that they were in the wrong kind of store.

"Misaki, let's fuck outta here-" Before the green haired man could finish his sentence, a man with a round stomach, wearing an incredibly tacky velvet suit, walked out of another room connected to the one Zoro and Misaki were in. They turned to stare at him with obvious cringe lacing their expressions, but he paid them no mind.

"Welcome to Mister Weapons~!" He bubbled with an overly sultry voice. "How may we be of service to you?" He glanced at his two potential customers, and flinched when he saw Misaki.

"A-Are you thinking of giving her to this store?" He asked. "She's goooorrrgeous-"

"What? _Me_?" Misaki pointed to her chest, almost dropping her bags at the insinuation that Zoro was about to drop her off at a cat house. After Zoro warned her, the girl quickly caught on. After all, she knew what prostitution looked like.

"She's extremely beautiful, I might be able to offer you around-" The man started, but the green haired swordsman sent him a death glare.

"No one's selling no one. We got the wrong place."

"Well, if you'd like, you can leave your sister outside and have some fun here!" The boss of the store snapped his fingers, and before Zoro could utter another protest, a curtain opened before them, and a bunch of girls lined up were behind said curtains. These women were wearing bikinis and barely anything else, except for a surplus amount of jewelry and makeup. When the girls were revealed, they seemed surprised that it had happened so suddenly, so they were shuffling around a little bit, most likely to get into some planned position.

The girls were probably supposed to act "sexy" for their next client, but they couldn't help but squeal over the pirate and his undisguised abs. They whispered to each other and were filled with anticipation, thinking that he would pick one of them.

Well, he wouldn't.

Zoro turned to the owner of the shop- the one wearing the suit- and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Why the hell would you name this store, 'Mister Weapons!?' Who the fuck makes such a tacky name like that!?"

"W-Well, that's my name, actually… I'm Herman Weapons. So, I'm Mr. Weapons, hence the name. It's pronounced Herr-"

"Did anyone ask!?"

"You just did…"

"Forget it, Zoro, let's just go." The thirteen year old muttered, tugging on his sleeve and walking to the exit. She felt embarrassed that the two walked into such a store.

Just then, there was a shuffle from the display of the prostitutes and a few muffled protests. Both Misaki and Zoro turned their heads to see what was going on.

"M…Misaki?"

The girl widened her eyes at the oh-so familiar voice. She let go of the man's sleeve and brought a hand to her mouth in sheer shock.

Cara was at the front of the stage of women, her golden green eyes brimming with tears. Oh, how Misaki had missed those eyes that gave her such hope every now and then when she would see her during her stay at Sentorappu.

"Misaki!" The woman rushed to her old friend, but was stopped, and pulled back into the group of ladies.

"Cara!" The girl ran towards the dark skinned woman instead, and hugged her tightly. "I-I… I thought you were dead…!"

"I thought you were dead, too!"

They were now both sobbing and crying hard, although Cara couldn't hug Misaki back, due to the condition of her arms and hands.

Zoro stood at the entrance of the shop, scratching his head as he didn't know what to say or do.

"Why…. What-" Misaki made one more quick check to see if this was really Cara, and then inspected for any injuries. She then saw what had restrained her from running to Misaki.

Shackles on her wrists.

The blue haired girl turned to the manager. "What is the meaning of this? Do you tie down all of your employees here?"

"Only the ones who misbehave." He prompted nonchalantly. "And also, this young woman owes a lot of money. I can't just let her roam free!"

"Cara, what is he _talking_ about?" She glanced back at the white haired woman, who looked down.

"She needed a job." One of the skimpily clothed prostitutes nearby Misaki spoke up. "But the boss-"

The manager of the shop sent a look to the girl who had mentioned him. She stifled her words and became silent.

Misaki stood from her emotional embrace with Cara and looked the man in the eye with a fierce glare. "What did you do to her?"

He flinched.

"Answer me!"

"I… I didn't do anything. I just offered her this job. But I gave her a few drinks. I thought she could afford it."

"Bastard, you didn't just give me a few drinks! You gave me _barrels_ of the most expensive alcohol on the bar menu!" Cara flipped her head towards the manager in rage and disgust.

"Why would you even take the alcohol in the first place?" Zoro sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. Misaki shot a look at Zoro. "That's not the point," she snapped.

"I… I didn't know that it would get me into this much trouble… And I didn't know that this son of a bitch was the owner of a _cat house_!" The woman tried to fling herself to the man, but forgot about the chains holding her back.

Misaki sent another bone chilling scowl at Mr. Weapons. "This is trickery."

"He did it to a lot of us." Someone from the back of the group piped up.

"Silence!" The manager roared.

Misaki and Zoro weren't affected by the man's demeanor at all, however. She put a hand to her forehead. "How much do I have to give you so you let her go?"

He sniffed. "You couldn't afford it,"

"How much?" She glowered at him. Cara pulled on the younger girl's sleeve. "That's enough, Misaki. He's serious- you couldn't pay it all. Now, get out of here and pretend you never saw me-"

"No, I'm not leaving you, Cara!" Misaki grabbed the older woman's shoulders and shook her violently. "I already lost Aika and I left everyone else back at Sentorappu! I'm not leaving you, too."

Cara's expression twisted from hopelessness to shock.

"Tell me, how much!?" Misaki quickly turned her head to Mr. Weapons.

"Well, if you're so confident, you'll have to give me one million beri."

Zoro and Cara winced at the immense amount of money while the other girls started whispering to each other.

"That was more than I owed you before-!" Cara tried to shout out, but a cold stare from the boss silenced her rather speedily.

"Fine." Misaki began rummaging through her jacket pocket. She cupped in her hand what she was looking for, and thrust out her arm in front of everyone to see.

Jewels clinked to the carpeted floor, along with a nice looking pearl necklace and a diamond ring.

Zoro's eyes widened at the sight of the gems.

"You said that you only had one hundred thousand beri on you." He whispered.

"In cash. I have more that I couldn't convert to beri. The person in the building told me that they ran out of bills," She mumbled.

The girls onstage and Mr. Weapons were both in shock. Cara's eyes went wide, as well.

She dumped out more of her jewels to the ground until there was a considerably large pile on the floor, sparkling and looking pretty for a greedy, fat man to collect.

"Will this be enough for you?" She looked down at Mr. Weapons, who was already knelt down on the carpet, trying to collect every single piece of forunuity for himself. He gave her a salesman smile and nodded. "Yes, this is a good amount."

Snapping his fingers, Cara's chains were broken.

The brown skinned girl was free, and once she was, she gave Misaki a bear hug.

"Misaki…! I missed you so much!"

"I did too, Cara!"

And they were back to crying again. Zoro put a hand to his forehead and started to walk to the exit.

"Wait! Don't leave yet, Zoro." Misaki yelled at the green haired man.

" _Z-Zoro_?" The manager of the shop recoiled at the mention of the name, repeating it with a quiet hiss.

"Everyone, step off from the stage." Misaki ordered the women.

Some of them walked off casually, putting their hands to their hips, and others were hesitant at the command, exchanging glances with each other and taking peeks at the expression their boss was making. However, most of the prostitutes could not because of the familiar chains binding them to their places.

There were around maybe twenty to thirty women standing, and probably about ten to fifteen didn't move because of their shackles- so basically, roughly half of them.

"Do you _all_ owe him money?" The navy blue haired girl questioned the ones who were bound, and they all nodded slowly.

"He used tricks on us to make us work here…" A girl uttered.

"He doesn't pay us any money, and continuously adds onto our debt."

"And he barely feeds us anything."

Misaki closed her eyes, and then opened them with a new hatred for Mr. Weapons. This was no better than slavery.

"I guess we have no choice, then." Zoro scratched his head. He turned to the manager. "Mr. Weapons."

"Y-Y-Yes!?"

"Release those girls and free them of their debts," Zoro ordered, patting Misaki's shoulder, as if he was sending her a mental message that went along the lines of, 'I got this,'

"I can't do that…" The man stuttered out, shivering in fear of what might happen to him in the next few seconds. "I have bills to pay… I have my own life to worry about, as well!"

"I wasn't finished," The green haired swordsman quickly unsheathed Wado. He pointed the tip at the center of Mr. Weapons' stomach, the point of the katana almost touching the suit.

"Eeeeek!" The boss knew not to make any sudden moves, but any person in their right mind would have screamed like he had.

"Release them, or you won't have a life to worry about any longer." The marimo smiled evilly.

* * *

Misaki, Zoro, and Cara were seated at a nice, upbeat restaurant in the central area. After the whole fiasco, Misaki and Cara had hugged and cried for a little longer. Then, the three got the hell out of Mister Weapons, which Mr. Weapons was very grateful for.

They then went to get Cara a new outfit in a nearby store, which took longer than Zoro and Misaki wanted because Cara insisted on picking out her first official outfit meticulously. They finally came out of the clothing store with a satisfied Cara and a worn out Zoro and Misaki, although they still hadn't discussed anything together at all.

"So, how are you? How did you end up on this island and everything?" Misaki leaned in closer to face the white haired girl on the other side of the table. The waiter was ordered to get the three of them shakes- a bit of alcohol in two of the orders to shake things up a bit, just for Cara and the swordsman.

"W-Well… I guess I should start from the beginning…" Cara muttered.

"I'd blacked out after we were _ker-blammed_ by the storm. I ended up here and woke up about a few hours since I washed up on shore, as the people who found me said. Then they told me where I was and all, and they even gave me some money for a ship boarding ticket, since they assumed that I had a home to return to." She chuckled. "Anyway, since I had the extra money, I looked for a job that would get me some cash, and so I started working at a bar… which was where I met Mr. Weapons. After my shift, I had a break and he ordered so many drinks for me. I thought he was going to pay, since, like, who _orders_ something for you and expects _you_ to pay for it?"

"Right. Proceed." Misaki nodded.

"Alright. So after a while I passed out, and when I woke up, I was still at the bar. I was fired from my job on the first damn day for drinking during my break, and the man was waiting for me… sitting besides me. He demanded that I return his money."

"It's kind of your fault for drinking so much." Misaki said.

"That's what I said when she first mentioned it, though!" The green haired man sitting next to her protested.

"Shut up, Zoro. Cara, continue."

"...So, it turned out that I'd been drinking the most expensive shit on the menu…"

"Oh, dear Lord."

"...By the barrel."

"Cara, are you serious?"

"...Fifteen barrels."

" _Cara_!"

The green eyed woman slumped into her seat, closing her eyes in disappointment at herself. "Yeah, I know, I know. I'm an embarrassment." She sat back up straight. "Anyway, there was no way I had enough money for all of that. So he told me that he would pay for the alcohol if I came to work for him." Cara smiled grimly. "Little did I know I would just end up the same way I was when I was a slave. Selling my body against my own will."

There was an eerily lengthy silence between the three of them until the waiter came to break the tension with their vanilla-coconut specialty shakes.

"Here are your Vanilla-Coconut Specialty Shakies!" He chirped cheerfully.

"Why do you call them 'shakies?'" Zoro cringed, taking a sip out of his "shakie."

"I'm very sorry; our manager makes us say it." The waiter bowed his head in embarrassment.

"I'll forgive you if you add more brandy into this thing," He waved his drink in front of the waiter, who obliged by taking his shake back.

"Misaki, by the way, where's Bruce? I don't see him here… Is he in a hotel room in this island or something?"

The navy blue haired girl turned to face Cara who had an oblivious look on her face, taking a sip out of her alcohol-infused shake.

"...Uhmmm… Cara, Bruce isn't with me. I thought he was with you." Misaki answered carefully. "If you're joking around, it's not funny. Bruce _isn't_ with you?"

"No. Why would he be? He's with you!" Cara smiled knowingly.

"He's not…"

"Who's Bruce?" Zoro asked while munching on a panini.

Just those words from the two were enough to devastate the dark skinned woman.

"A-Are you serious now?" She quivered in her seat. "Is Bruce… Is he really not with you guys?"

"Nope." The swordsman said. "Is he your son or something?"

"He's her brother," Misaki turned to Zoro.

"Younger?"

"Yes."

Cara shook her head rapidly, causing her hair to sway dramatically. She slammed her hands onto the table, causing neighboring customers to veer their heads. "No! He might not be with you, but he's definitely not dead. I know it!"

"Okay, unless you guys were twins with that creepy 'intuition' thing, I don't think you can say you know for sure…" Zoro pointed out very unnecessarily.

"Shut up, Zoro." The blue haired tween elbowed the older man, who grunted in response. She glanced back at Cara, who didn't look so sure of her own words. She needed to say something to Cara to make her lose at least a little bit of tension.

"Ahem… Cara, let me introduce you to Roronoa Zoro." Misaki cleared her throat and let a hand fall on the man's shoulder as he brushed it off coldly.

"I'm sheltering her until she dies or leaves." said Zoro.

"Roronoa Zoro… okay." Cara mustered a weak smile to cover up her concentration on another matter.

"Zoro's part of a pirate crew. The Straw Hat Pirates. They're apparently very notorious." Misaki stated. The three of them didn't realize that some of the people around them were listening to their conversation and Misaki's claims.

A few were murmuring things like:

"Roronoa Zoro, she said…"

"The Straw Hat Pirates!?"

"Isn't Roronoa Zoro the one who _sliced_ an entire ship in half?"

Well, the navy blue haired girl was catching onto these statements, and so was Zoro, who didn't look at all happy that he was being recognized. Cara, who was still new to the outside world and didn't read any books, magazines, or pamphlets as Misaki did in their years of slavery, was clueless as to even what a _bounty_ was.

"Wait, you _do_ know what a bounty is, right?" Misaki asked.

"Uhhh… yes?" She responded with uncertainty dripping from her answer.

"Oh, for crying out- Zoro, _will you_ _stop eating the baguettes_!?" Misaki hissed as they were still seated. Zoro shook his head swiftly as he stuffed one more piece of bread into his mouth.

At this point, the same waiter was coming over with his hands behind his back, putting on a somewhat strained smile. He didn't have any of the food they'd ordered. Not good, and also, terrible service, as Cara commented.

"Misaki, we gotta bounce." The marimo wiped his mouth with the napkin, speaking to the girl softly. "You too, Cara. We'll act like we're just talking to each other, and when I say go, you get up and run with me."

" _What_!?" Cara whisper-hissed.

"Just do what he says…" Misaki sighed.

"Three…." Zoro whispered.

Misaki looked at Cara and pretended to say something, as if they were having a jolly conversation about the weather. Seemed to fool the waiter, since his expression became a bit more relaxed.

"Two…"

The waiter misstepped and revealed a pistol in his left hand, shocking the customers next to him.

"One- Go, go, _go_!" Zoro shouted the last few "go's," and they were up and out.

A few of the consumers abruptly stood up, seconds after the trio, and ran after them. "It's the Straw Hat Pirates!"

"I'm not a pirate!" Cara wailed and zoomed out of the door.

"Sorry for getting you involved, Cara!" Misaki looked back at the woman who was running for her life and very angry and the younger girl. "THAT'S NOT GOING TO CUT IT!"

"Just keep running! Come on!" The green haired man ushered them closer to him- he was literally jogging. Unfortunately for Misaki, his "jogging pace" was her "super-sonic-sprinting pace."

Cara was in the middle of the two of them, running from the mob of people who were after Zoro's head, and in the midst of everything, the waiter was firing bullets into the air like a maniac, which the dark skinned woman found amusing.

"Can't you just distract them!?" Misaki huffed while speeding through the streets, staring at Zoro's back.

"Oh, right." He skidded to a halt and the other two girls mentally facepalmed.

'And I thought _I_ was an idiot!' Cara grumbled internally. But her unawareness of the situation came back as she also stopped in her tracks and glanced at Zoro. "Wait, what're you going to do?"

Before they knew it, the two simple but powerful slashes sent the people's way sent them backwards a few yards away, causing havoc in the crowd. Zoro sheathed his swords back into their rightful places and scratched his head. "Let's get going while they're still being held back."

"Yeah," Misaki nodded, taking Cara's hand and pulling her along the way, giving the latter no time to be utterly shocked by what had happened.

"Wait, Misaki! What's up with your friend!?"

The girl kept on running and didn't face her, but she _did_ explain. "Zoro's a pirate. He's extremely strong and all, so he can pull off attacks like that. Isn't it amazing?"

"Yeah… But, how'd you end up with someone as deadly as _that_!?"

"Long story." Misaki answered. But then she remembered something that would force the three to stop once more.

"Wait! Zoro, I have to buy a weapon."

"We can do that on another island!" He grumbled. "And also, we're being chased to the death, remember?"

"I'd rather do it sooner than later," She muttered, lowering her head.

Cara just stood next to Misaki, oblivious of the current situation. 'Aren't we supposed to be running away?'

Zoro was hesitant, at first, to Misaki's request, but then he looked at her face. It was a face of desperation and the need to do something quickly and at the moment. He knew that this was important to her, and him asking for the reason wouldn't help anyone, anyway.

"...Tch, fine." The swordsman rubbed the back of his head. He started moving again, but at a walking pace, ushering the others to follow him.

"This time, let's go to a simple-looking weapons store. They say you can find the greatest treasures in the smallest places." He suggested.

"Alright," Misaki agreed. "Let's do that."

* * *

The store was simple, alright.

But there were varieties of weapons, and it was a pretty large place, considering all the considerably smaller stores lined up with that specific one. So that was a plus for Misaki. She looked around and window shopped for a bit.

"Call me over when you find something that piques your interest." The marimo said. "I need to buy cleaning supplies for my swords."

"Okay." Misaki turned to Cara, who was only staring at the small shop in awe. "Cara, you have to pick out something, too."

"What? Why?" The woman asked in confusion.

"It's for your protection. The Sunny doesn't really have any weapon storage place, so you can't get anything there." She answered.

"I see." Cara smiled. The three were now separated and wandering around for their own interests.

There were so many things in the store, believe it or not. The tween was overwhelmed by all the different types of blades and bullets in one section.

Well, since this _was_ a Pirate Era, it was essential to have a good supply of weapons just in case anything happened in your island, such as a raid or an attack.

"Why the hell are you in this section?" Zoro popped his head around the aisle labelled, "Heavy Explosives," and deadpanned at Cara. She giggled nervously.

"What? Misaki said it was for my protection!" She laughed. "This is the strongest item in this dingy store!"

"Come on, pick out something more practical." He dragged her away from the piles of grenades and time bombs.

Before Misaki could check out the handheld guns, something grabbed her attention.

She sensed something strong.

A strong presence in the store was lurking around, and Misaki wanted to locate it, in case it was a threat to her or her friends. Or the store.

But no. The energy was coming from a tall, woven basket that was only about half a foot shorter than her. It was so powerful that the basket was rattling.

"Uhm, store manager?" She called, waving her hand, gesturing him to come to where she was.

"Yes?" He picked up his glasses from the bridge of his nose while tiptoeing around his cashier desk.

"What's inside this basket?" Misaki pointed. He smiled broadly.

"Ah, those are our cursed katana. The lid is always shut on these things because heaven knows what they can do if they were exposed to air, where they could attack whoever they wanted."

Although the blue haired girl had read quite a lot on cursed swords, she never really found them so interesting because the thought of a cursed sword in all of its aspects seemed so unrealistic and strange.

She wanted to lift the lid.

"Do you mind if I take a look?" She asked.

"No, go ahead, please." He sniffed.

She slowly opened the basket and looked inside. In the basket were about thirty or so katana in total, all encrusted in ominous symbols and designs.

"Yes, yes, cursed swords have actually became quite the fad, ever since many swordsmen have been using them, and they proved themselves to be quite useful and powerful." The store manager rambled on about his greatest weapons, making hand gestures and becoming so absorbed in his stories, not noticing that Misaki was taking out a certain sword from the pile.

'This one is the one. It's calling out to me.' She thought. The girl turned to the storekeeper. "Excuse me, how much is this one?"

"All of the cursed katana are each two million beris." He responded cheerfully, with his eyes closed, as if he had rehearsed the line. When he reopened them, they were instantly widened at the sight of the sword. 'T-That o-one… B-But that's...'

Misaki sighed, noticing his reaction to just taking one glance at the sword she chose. "Well… The thing is, I don't have two million beris in cash at the moment."

"Well, then, you can forget about buying this. Cursed katana are quite rare, and the only reason why I have so many here is because the last pirates who swung by left such a big batch, saying that they didn't want anything to do with them." The man folded his hands against his chest. "They _are_ pretty dangerous. The captain of the ship told me before he gave me the swords, that the previous owners of some of them killed themselves."

Misaki flinched just a bit.

"I don't care. I can pay you, just not in cash."

"Then how will you pay me?" He demanded.

She drew out a sack from one of her shopping bags that looked as if it were made out of burlap, but still sagging. As she moved it, the contents of the sack made clinking sounds.

"I can pay you with these jewels," She dropped the burlap bag on the floor, and the opening revealed pretty gemstones and coins, in both gold and silver.

The storekeeper gulped. "Well… This seems adequate enough."

"No. It's more than enough. I'll be taking another sword. That bag is probably worth around five million." Misaki put her hands on her hips. While she kept that one katana on the ground of the shop, she rummaged through the cursed swords to find another.

Then, she felt another strange aura. She immediately looked down at the blade she had placed on the floor, thinking that the power was coming from it.

The sword was still.

'Does that mean that there's another one…?' Misaki turned back to the basket and scanned the swords for something- anything, and rummaged through it.

"Are you looking for something?" He asked.

"I felt something else. But it's not in this basket." The girl said.

"Felt something? I-I'm sure that if it was the energy of a cursed sword, it must be in there somewhere-"

"You're lying." Misaki interjected. "Where is it?"

The storekeeper grumbled at her persistence and scratched the back of his head. "I'm afraid I won't bring it here."

"Why? Did someone already purchase-"

"No, it's not that. Rather, I _can't_." He interrupted the navy blue haired girl, who cocked her head to the side.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Those two katana are siblings." He answered.

"How can swords be siblings? What does it even mean?" Misaki asked. She always cringed whenever people used personification like that.

The storekeeper cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "Legend has it that long ago, twin assassins haunted many islands as they killed and tortured people with their blades. For their evil deeds, the gods up above sentenced them to an instant death after the two's one thousandth kill together, and placed their souls into the katana. You can't keep them together. The energy is too overwhelming."

A rough, calloused hand was dropped onto Misaki's soft head of hair. "I'll be the judge of that."

Zoro stood, looking down at the shorter girl. "You found a pretty good sword to use. Bring the other one here. I promise that no one'll get hurt."

"No! I refuse!" He folded his arms across his chest.

"Bring it to me," Following behind Zoro's words, Misaki gazed at the shop owner with her intense eyes, commanding him to comply.

The old man gulped. But he remained stubborn and still.

Misaki picked up the sword she chose from the pile and sighed. She placed it right on top of her hand.

"Uhh, what are you doing, Misaki?" Zoro reached out his hand in hesitance.

She unsheathed the sword with her other hand, and sliced through her wrist.

"Oh my god!" The old store manager jumped a mile backwards right when she made the blow.

Her hand was fine, naturally. Misaki had made sure that whenever she was attacked with a weapon by someone, even herself, the body part that was affected would turn to liquid a millisecond before it happened.

"H-How…"

"Even though it's a demon sword, it doesn't possess any supernatural abilities so that it can hurt me." Misaki said. "If something happens, I'll protect you. And he's a talented swordsman, so he'll make sure that this shop will stay together." Misaki motioned to Zoro, who was still standing behind her, half-shocked at what just happened.

The storekeeper was stationary, still on the floor in shock of what just happened. After a few moments, he skittered away and came back with a wrapped katana.

The dark energy was overwhelming, and Zoro, Cara, and Misaki could all sense the incredible energy the two swords possesed.

Misaki held both swords after unwrapping the one that had been put away, and just keeping them in her hands was a struggle.

"That's enough, Misaki-" Zoro tried to stop her from continuing her attempt to control the twin katana, but he was interrupted.

"No. I'm keeping these swords. I just need to show them that they won't overpower me." Misaki strengthened her grip on the swords, and she felt flickers and slashes of retaliation and anger spewing out of the hateful weapons. Zoro and Cara blockaded the poor store owner from the small strikes and slices that traveled via the air, while Misaki transformed her body into water to avoid getting hit, since she was the most prone to the attacks, as she was the closest to the swords.

Then, wailing emerged from the katana. Wails of not only two people, but many, many people. Voices of agony and suffering. Misaki came to realize that the owners of the screeches and cries were the victims of the two assassins. The story the old storekeeper explained was beginning to unfold.

"Look up." Zoro pointed to the ceiling. Cara was shocked to see that the entire store was dark- covered with black mist and the negative, evil energy drawn out by the death that the siblings brought to so many people.

Misaki was sweating and straining to continue her efforts. And just when she looked like she was ready to pass out, the wailing stopped. The dark clouds cleared. The violent, miniscule attacks ceased.

The swords were silent.

"Phew." The navy blue haired girl wiped her forehead with her right arm, as she was still holding onto her newly retrieved katana. "That was interesting. Are you guys okay?"

"Wow." Cara stood, bewildered at what had happened. Actually, the swordsman, the store owner, and she were all crouched behind the counter table to avoid the slices that were produced from the swords and their anger. The three swiftly emerged from the counter and gave Misaki a quiet, quick applause.

"Thanks, I guess?" She responded, tucking her hair behind her ear, mind you, _still dangerously holding the swords_. "Zoro, should I name them?"

"What?" He snapped out of his awkward state of awe and glanced at Misaki again.

"Names. Should I give them names?"

"I don't think swords are given names by secondary owners-" Zoro started.

"And they already have names! Aku and Waru (Aku means "evil" and Waru is shorted for Warui, which means "bad.")!" The storekeeper butted in. "Please! Let's not anger the katana again by naming them like new pets… at least, not in my shop! It's bad luck, it's bad luck, I tell you!"

"I think I'll call this one Kura." She lifted the sword with the white handle.

"LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY!"

"And this one will be Yami." She twisted the black handled sword.

"Kura and Yami." Zoro smirked. "Kurayami, meaning, 'darkness?'"

"Naturally. If I can't name the swords I own, then they'll completely own me in a matter of minutes." Misaki said.

"Alright. Strong words spoken by a complete moron." He clapped her back roughly. "Nice work, Misaki!"

"Please don't call me a moron."

In a few minutes, Misaki, Zoro, and Cara, who was in another aisle of the shop, were out of that store with their purchases. Cara got herself a revolver because it apparently looked "super fucking cool," and Zoro bought some cleaning supplies, as he had promised.

"Do you even know how to shoot with a gun?" The marimo raised an eyebrow.

"No. but hey, everyone starts somewhere!" Cara let her hands up into the air.

"No, that's not how it works." The green haired man said, raising his eyebrow. As they left the store, the three could see the owner spreading salt all over his floors and windows, holding up a cross and comically praying, as if the demons from Misaki's katana would come and kill him.

"For now, you should stay with us, at the Sunny. Everyone there is really nice." Misaki said.

"...Misaki, do they know, though?" The dark skinned woman twiddled her fingers, her gun hanging from the loop of her pants.

"Know what?" The green haired man asked, and Misaki narrowed her eyebrows. "Zoro's the only one who knows, I think. The rest of them have no idea. They think I was in a shipwreck."

"Oh." Cara mumbled.

"Oh, are you talking about the slave thing?" Zoro snapped his fingers.

"Please don't say, 'the slave thing,'" The blue haired girl rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "And, yes. You already know about how I was a slave. Cara was, as well."

"How old are you, exactly?" Zoro interrogated.

"I'm nineteen," She responded, bringing her shoulders up to breathe in. "I've been a slave since I was ten. Misaki's been one her whole life, if you didn't know."

"Your whole life?" He turned to Misaki, unbelievingly.

"Well, I was cared for until I turned four." She corrected her older friend.

"Oh, right…"

"That's not what matters here. What matters is that we find Bruce, wherever he is, and go back to Sentorappu."

"Why would we-" Cara tried to speak up, but was interrupted by Zoro. "We should head back, now. The mob's gonna catch up any time soon."

"Oh, right." Misaki recollected the crowd of people trying to chase the swordsman down.

"Oh, and also, Cara…" The green haired man faced the woman.

"Yeah?" Cara was still a bit timid around the swordsman, since they'd just met. Her voice quieted down, as if Zoro was bringing her some bad news.

"Misaki swallowed a Devil Fruit."

"What's a Devil Fruit?"

"You don't know what a Devil Fruit is? Misaki knew what a Devil Fruit is and she's a moron-" Zoro started to speak, but Misaki interrupted his salty sentence.

"We'll tell you when we get back to the Sunny…" The blue haired girl stated while running.

"What's a 'sunny?'"

* * *

"...And so, I'll have to ask you for another favor." Misaki bowed to the Straw Hat Pirates, who had already returned to the ship. It was around supper time, and Sanji was cooking dinner- steak and vegetables with a side of frozen yogurt. Cara wasn't even bowing down with her friend, but rather, she was smelling what was going down in the kitchen.

"Why… Why does she have so many scars?" Nami pointed at Cara's arms and legs- the dark skinned woman _still_ not paying attention- but Robin smacked down the orange haired woman's hand. "It's rude to point," she said.

Cara's body contained a fuckton of scattered scars. When she was younger and new to the prostitution world, she would get tortured mentally so her brain could be trained to satisfy her clients' needs. She pretended to cooperate for nine years, and she was only herself around her brother and closest friends, while she was a submissive meltdown whenever she entered her "workplace." However, she was never injured, since "merchandise and precious items couldn't be manhandled in such a way." Bruce was also untouched, and so Misaki was the one who really looked bad while standing next to the two caramel siblings.

Misaki knew that she was back into the brothel business before she was rescued, but she never imagined that she would be beaten by the manager. Then again, she was bound in chains, so that was poor judgement on the blue haired girl's part. She didn't question Cara about the injuries because she was afraid that something would trigger deep inside the white haired woman's heart. Misaki snapped out of her thoughts and cleared her throat.

"...Uhhh, I don't know...?" The thirteen year old thought up of a lame excuse quickly. "But she doesn't have any money, and she's an irresponsible drinker, so I couldn't leave her alone there. She isn't dangerous. I promise."

"Of course she can stay with us! She's your friend, Misaki." Usopp put his hands on his hips.

"Thanks!" Cara whooped. She brought out her pistol and twirled it around her index finger a few times. "Does anyone here know how to shoot really well? I want to learn,"

All eyes directed to the man who just spoke: Usopp.

"Aw, man! I never thought that there would actually be a sniper on this ship!" Cara raised her arms in happiness. "You like booze?"

"I-I'm not really the teacher type…" Usopp stuttered, but the similar skin toned woman had already linked her arm around his shoulder. "Ahhh, don't worry about it! I'll be in your care, Long Nose!"

"His name is Usopp, Cara…"

"Long Nose, it is!"

The rest of the crew chuckled.

Adding Cara into the Sunny wasn't a problem, and pretty soon, even Nami came to accept the woman's imperfections. She was more social and seemingly more emotional than Misaki, so she got along with the navigator and the idiots of the crew. When Sanji saw her, he was knocked out.

"Another lady~!"

"Shut up, you damn pervert!" Zoro slapped the cook's back with his sheathed sword.

And thus, they fought again. Misaki and Cara looked at the group of troublemakers in silence.

"Misaki…"

"Yeah, I know. They can be weird at times. But apparently, not all people act like them."

"Hmm." Cara hummed and put her hands to her hips. "Let's talk a little bit more. In private."

"Of course." Misaki led her to the library, but didn't know another figure was following them.

When she shut the door behind them and made sure no one was looking at or for them, she switched her face around to direct her attention at Cara, who was worried, her happy and animated expressions that were just there a few moments ago long gone.

But when she realized Misaki was looking at her, she made her mouth turn to a small smile, even though her eyes were forlorn and dark.

It was clear that Cara wasn't ready to say anything. Not yet.

"About the Devil Fruit we were talking about before…" Misaki tried to start up a conversation and hoped that after listening to her, the dark skinned woman would escape from her sadness and talk about the more important matter at hand.

The navy blue haired girl, in their small amount of alone time together, told Cara about Devil Fruits and her Mizu Mizu no mi. She demonstrated to Cara her magic- at least, the little that she was able to do at the moment. Cara gasped in awe when she experienced the little water fragments rotating around her friend's fingertips, and even staggered away in surprise, but didn't say anything else.

"I was rescued by them. And they're good people- not like the ones we're used to." The girl coughed. "I only told Zoro about our situation, but to be honest, when I was confessing my past, I could feel another presence in the room, listening to our conversation…" Misaki said. "It doesn't look like we can't trust them, but we should still stay cautious."

"Is your power the reason why your injuries disappeared?" Cara asked, and Misaki nodded. She then remembered Cara's back.

Wherever she went during the time they were together, Misaki had seen Cara wearing quite revealing clothing, but nothing that would exhibit her back.

Probably because there was a large emblem of the Celestial Dragons, forever remaining and much too large to humanely remove; to stay on her body until she grew old and wrinkly to the point where the branding would be hardly recognizable. The mark wasn't removable, either, and Cara probably never wanted to go through the pain of having something large enough to be branded over the already enormous marking. The marking that Misaki didn't have.

She thought back to the time at the torture chambers when everyone was being branded, but the person in charge of the marking was stopped by Hakotsu himself when it was the blue haired girl's turn.

" _Stop. You cannot mark her."_

" _My Lord?"_

" _She is the one… She cannot be labelled as a lowly slave for the rest of her life,"_

Misaki never really understood what Hakotsu meant by those last words.

"I'm worried about Bruce." Cara cleared her throat, and Misaki was just glad that she finally decided to speak.

The girl frowned. "Cara, where would he have gone? If you got to an island after the storm, he must have gotten on that same island, too."

"There's... something I didn't tell you about that time." The white haired woman averted her gaze.

"What?"

"...The day of the shipwreck, I was with Bruce on the railing of the deck. We were just looking at the ocean and all, and we just couldn't believe that we were finally free from the hell hole we were in for nine years." Cara's lower lip trembled. "Somewhere in the conversation, we started arguing… bickering, and then it gradually got worse. We started shouting, and people were looking at us… I punched his face and he shoved me onto the wall of the ship… and then the storm came. And that was when a wave of water was about to hit me."

Misaki looked up at her friend.

"But. But… it didn't." Cara cupped her head into her hands. "Bruce pushed me away so I wouldn't get hurt… But he got dragged in by that water…! And I was safer. And the last thing we said to each other was an argument, followed by a punch and a shove. I don't want that! I'm so scared to death that he might be dead, or worse, just brought back to Sentorappu! And even when I was a prostitute, I couldn't sleep at all. I could only think about how much I regretted fighting with him… And losing the two of you."

The blue haired girl frowned. "Did that really happen? I must have been lamenting so much and being a baby that I didn't even realize the danger my friends were in…"

"None of this was your fault, Misaki." Cara sniffled and rubbed her eye. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were red to indicate that tears were welling up. "Don't think like that. I'm just hoping to God that Bruce is still alive and well… Maybe he's still out at sea."

Misaki perked up. "Maybe…" She pumped her fist. "I can track him down with my powers!"

"Would it expand to that extent? We don't know how far he went, due to the shipwreck, and we don't even know if you can even do it!" Cara protested.

"We have to try." The girl responded firmly, wondering if her idea would work.

She really hoped it would work.

* * *

It didn't work.

"Misaki, what in the world are you doing?" Usopp asked, cocking his head to the side.

Misaki was floating on water and plunging her hands into the cold ocean, trying to see if she could pick up a signal of Bruce. A familiar voice, scent- something.

The water felt warm to touch as her arms became more absorbed into the sea, and she could feel sea creatures swimming underneath her submerged feet, which were pretty close to the surface of the sea, long with the ginormous Sunny- that was weird, since sea creatures being that close to a ship was uncommon.

"Are you getting anything?" The brown skinned woman called down to the young girl, who shook her head solemnly.

"It might pop up somehow, maybe later. I can find him!" She replied with determination.

"What is she doing?" Nami pointed towards Misaki. At this point, the Straw Hats were used to her powers, since most of them were Devil Fruit users, too, and something like this wasn't out of the ordinary.

"She's looking for… uhh… something, that she lost in the ocean…?" Cara stumbled with the proper excuse to make, but came up with _something_ , at least. Misaki overheard her friend's response and replaced her look of concentration with a look of internal death.

Soon enough, the girl became drowsy and void of strength in her limbs. She let the ocean carry her back into the Sunny, and sit her down on the floor of the deck. It was hopeless- either her powers didn't have the ability to do something like finding a person that could have been far, far away, or Bruce wasn't in the water. Or he could have been dead, which was an option Misaki refused to think about.

"I couldn't find anything." Misaki muttered, looking down in shame. "I wish I was more useful."

"Come on. You saved me once today, we'll save Bruce another if we have to." The white haired woman patted her friend on the back in encouragement. She had no intention of believing in the chance that Bruce was dead. That was what Misaki had expected, and she paid it no mind.

"Dinner's ready! Hurry up and get grubbin', ladies and assholes!" Sanji called out from the kitchen, the aroma of meat and sugar stronger than ever. The navy blue haired girl wasn't surprised to see Cara fucking sprint to the direction of the cook's voice. She must have really been looking forward to eating, which was something that the thirteen year old girl appreciated because it let her know that her friend was still herself. Misaki huffed in exasperation, but a hint of relief, and followed shortly after a moment of stillness and silence.

* * *

 **Edited May 16th, 2019**

 **Thank you for reading, and please review! I appreciate constructive criticism~**


	11. Chapter 11: Changes And Training

**Chapter 11: Changes And Training**

* * *

 **Okay so at this point I have no idea what's going on with my story or Misaki so here's a summary for me and you**

 **Misaki's getting stronger with Zoro's help and the power of friendship**

 **She acquaints herself with the Straw Hat pirates and likes all of them**

 **Cara's still here and she's better than ever**

 **Even though she's the youngest on the ship Misaki's treated like a babysitter for Luffy and Zoro when they go to new islands because she is a mature thottie**

 **It's been about a month**

* * *

" _CONCENTRATE ON THE FUCKING DUMBBELL!_ "

"I WOULD IF YOU STOPPED SCREAMING!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT!? IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO TRAIN YOU ANYMORE, THEN I CAN JUST _WALK OUT!_ SEE IF I CARE, I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO!"

Cara, her legs tucked together, expressionlessly stared at the duo that was arguing fervently. Her hair was in a messy bun (which was comically bouncing up and down every time she laughed at Misaki and Zoro's clapbacks) and she was also wearing new clothes she had purchased with Misaki the day before.

'They're really similar, I see.' The white haired woman smiled calmly while munching on some food Sanji had made her.

Misaki was learning how to control her weapons, her actions, and her general body. With a dumbbell. The girl was just staring at a dumbell to learn to concentrate, which honestly didn't make any sense to her, and she didn't even try to take it seriously, or take Zoro seriously.

"Did you ever even have to do this?" Misaki snapped with heavy doubt laced in her voice.

"Yes. I wouldn't teach you foolish techniques."

"This technique is foolish," The girl deadpanned.

"I really wish that this crew had the brains to drop you off at an island that feeds thirteen year olds to penguins." Zoro threatened.

"I really wish that this crew had a more stable swordsman who could teach me more than just _looking_ at a damn dumbbell," Misaki muttered under her breath, turning away from the fuming marimo. He heard what she had said and immediately popped an infinite amount of veins.

"YOU'RE SUCH A LITTLE SHIT, THINKING THAT YOU CAN DISRESPECT ME LIKE THAT-"

"YOU'VE SHOWN ME THAT YOU DON'T DESERVE RESPECT FROM ME, ANYWAY!" The navy blue haired girl turned back to Zoro, who just about looked like he was about to strangle his trainee.

You could hear them screaming miles away.

"How long have you been on this ship, Misaki?" Cara asked, and Misaki did a 180 to glance at her friend. "I think, for a week now?"

"You seem to get along with Zoro-kun really well." She replied sarcastically.

"Hey, it's not my fault that the only person who's capable of teaching me how to fight is a complete knucklehead." Misaki huffed.

"Hey!"

Although it was tough working with Zoro, it was obvious that he excelled at fighting and analyzing the weak and strong points of a person's power. He clearly knew how to distribute his energy and power during a fight, and whenever they would duel with wooden katana, he would never break a sweat and blocked all of Misaki's attacks without blinking. Misaki, on the other hand, was tripping on air, it seemed. During fights, she would be falling over Zoro's weapon and losing her grip on the swords she held.

However, there was merit to all the training she went through, sooner rather than later.

Misaki was taught how to control her sword in days. Zoro had told her that her powers most likely contributed to the quickness of the controlling, and when he's first said that, she didn't understand.

"Your power scares the swords. A sword has somewhat of an emotional side to itself, and when it's put in danger, it knows if it can attack or stay humbled, whichever is the best option in each scenario."

"How do you know that?"

Zoro's expression darkened.

"My teacher. He told me about it. He's been through so many swordsmen. Some who exhibit not enough fear, are easily overtaken by their katana, if it's strong enough. But others who exert more power and energy can dominate and control their sword." The green haired man finally answered.

Her swordsmanship was another step. Although she knew how to move with her katana (at this point, she could only use one, since mastering two would be a completely different story), she was still getting used to the weight being in her hands.

"It's not so light, once I keep holding onto it." She muttered.

"In a while, you'll be holding onto two at a time. Get used to it." Zoro said. "Try out my sword for a change." He dropped Sandai Kietsu into her hands. She felt her body jerking downwards due to the immense amount of weight she was gripping.

"H-Heavy…"

"Told you. And I have _three_ of those."

Zoro told her that the girl would need years of training to be on par with half of him. She obviously believed him. Zoro could easily overtake her with little to none of his power, with or without his swords, and he was more dangerous with no weapons on his body or an inch of armor covering him, than she could ever be, even with her new powers.

Misaki wasn't looking forward to her rough years of fighting with a sword.

During breakfast time of a certain day on the Straw Hat's Sunny, Misaki had memorized the layout of the ship, Cara became close buddies with Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and her sharpshooting trainer, Usopp, and the two of them were becoming more comfortable on the ship as more time passed. The white haired woman loved drinking with the swordsman and joked around with Luffy and the sniper often. The younger girl helped Sanji with the dishes and meal prep whenever he could use it, but didn't try to approach Robin, due to her sudden distance towards Misaki. The ship wasn't nearing Sentorappu anytime soon, so this was a better time to enjoy and relax for Cara, while Misaki could find out new strengths and weaknesses about her power.

"Pass the blueberries, you hog!" Nami yelled from across the table as the straw hatted boy stuffed his cheeks with fruit. Today's breakfast was pancakes, waffles, and ooey, gooey syrup. The cook had also prepared powdered sugar and all kinds of jam.

"Thank you for the food," Misaki declared after she was finished.

"So, how's progress lately with your training, Misaki?" The orange haired woman asked, lacing her ginger locks through her fingers. "Zoro's not working you too hard, right?"

"No, I appreciate that he's taking his time to help me." Misaki responded, followed with an approving grunt from the swordsman who was stuffing his face with pancakes. "I've been working on my swordsmanship a lot, but it's not improving by much. Although I think I should also take a look at my water powers, too."

"Hmmm. I wonder if someone can help you with broadening your Devil Fruit powers. Maybe another Devil Fruit user?"

"I don't know. Since I can still swim, my Devil Fruit might be different, compared to others."

"Ahh, that's true."

"Well, then. I'll be off." Misaki waved goodbye to the Straw Hats and exited the kitchen. She climbed up the ladder to the crow's nest and plopped herself onto the center of the floor, partially waiting for Zoro to come and partially pondering a few things circulating her head at the moment.

'Maybe I should hurry to Sentorappu Island…'

'And risk getting myself killed or entrapped once again!?'

'Or maybe I should ask the Straw Hats for help…'

'They've already helped you so much. How could you bring yourself to ask for more?'

'What about Cara? Does she even want to go back to Sentorappu? I'm free, her brother is free, and she's never once mentioned anyone from the adult's sector that could be a possible friend to me during our conversations. What if she just wants to find Bruce?'

'Cara can make her own decisions, and if she doesn't want to help you, then that's okay. But what's more important is the current situation at Sentorappu. They've probably noticed that I was missing. What would they do?'

'Do? They wouldn't do anything, right? No, I can never be so sure. Keep everything as a possibility for now.'

'My Mizu Mizu no mi, though… It's such a mystery. Maybe it really is because of my powers which is why I'm able to swim… Or maybe it's my body?'

'Let's try to see what else I can do with the powers.'

Misaki stood up from where she was sitting and let a spherical blob surface from her hands to float on her finger tips. She released it into the air as she let her arms shoot up. The water kind of just hit the ceiling and splashed everywhere in the crow's nest.

'Useless…' Misaki thought. She held both her arms out from her sides and tried to attract the scattered water droplets in the room to avoid Zoro's confrontation when he entered a wet area.

The water sprung out from the wooden boards and the window panes. It was gathered to a large orb and traveled back into the girl's body fairly quickly.

'How can I attack with this, though? My body runs out of energy when I use just a little bit of the Mizu Mizu no mi's powers.'

Misaki then tried turning into water, but was displeased that her physical form was still molded into the water. 'What happens if I press harder?'

Concentrating, the young girl squeezed on whatever gut feeling she had, and suddenly felt sluggish. She looked into a reflection of one of the closed mirrors and realized that she was turning into actual water. Freely being able to travel around, of course, but still, water.

"Woah," Misaki felt strange in this liquid form. It was different from the bodily water form that she took whenever she avoided bullets or cuts during training battles with Zoro or Usopp. Could she turn back?

Misaki strained on the same gut feeling and instantly formed back to her normal liquid form, and then slowly reverted from transparent to full human once again.

"Strange." Misaki murmured. 'Is there anything that I can do?'

The navy blue haired girl made a gun hand out of her index, middle finger, and thumb. She pointed it at an open window and "shot."

A bit of water sprayed out pathetically, but it was enough to release a blob of water into the open area and send it straight into the back of Luffy's head, with the force to knock him down, probably out of surprise.

"What- Luffy!" The navy blue haired girl yelped in shock.

"Are we being ambushed!?" Nami called out after hearing Misaki's usually calm voice yell in panic.

Luffy stood right up and rubbed the part of his head where pain was inflicted. "Owww…" He looked down at his wet hand which he pulled down. "...Water…?"

"Sorry, Luffy!" Misaki called out from the open window she shot her water out of. "It was me!"

"Ahaha! No worries, Misaki! It's nothing, I didn't even feel anything!" Luffy waved his hand in dismission.

Misaki bent down and leaned against the wall. 'How do I control my water power? How… How?'

A few minutes after the whole water gun experiment, Zoro walked in through the door of the crow's nest.

"Yo." He waved his hand lazily. "I brought pineapple soda, and everyone drank besides you."

"Oh, thanks." She caught a thin can of soda in her hand.

"Also, you missed it, but Franky announced that he finished building everyone's rooms. He made one for you and Cara, too."

"What? Really?" Misaki stood up again. "How are the rooms?"

"I couldn't care less about stupid shit like that. I told him not to make one for me, since I sleep here all the time, anyway. The others are pretty excited, though. You should go check it out."

Misaki climbed down the ladder and jumped to the ground of the ship.

"Misaki, you came to my grand opening!" Franky cheered happily.

"Is that what you would call it?" Misaki asked. She enjoyed Franky's eccentric personality, but it clashed with her expressionlessness all the time.

Franky had done a great job with the renovations of the Sunny, even though no one had realized the drastic changes he'd been working on for days. Each of the rooms were spaces of isolation and privacy, and Nami appreciated the fact that she was given the biggest one. Franky, being the incredible shipwright he was, managed to increase the ship's size by a lot to adjust the rooms and how much extra space was needed to convert some parts of the area into hallways and spaces for entrances. Additionally, every bedroom had an exit to the open air of the Sunny. Franky didn't make himself a room because he could always sleep in the basement, where he already had living quarters set up for himself.

"I dunno if you noticed, Misaki, but you have a room, too!" Franky told the young girl enthusiastically. He pointed upwards, and Misaki looked towards the place he had directed her. "I actually attached your room to the mast of the crow's nest. It circles around it."

There was a room in the shape of a semicircular prism- a half donut, one might have said- that attached to the mast. The crow's nest was above that room, but the bedroom was large, height and diameter wise. There were windows and exits around the exterior, and a flimsy rope ladder that connected to the entrance of the bedroom to the crow's nest, along with a steel ladder that connected from the same entrance to the deck of the Sunny.

"It's a guest room!" Franky cheered. "I'll make some stairs leading to the bedroom, of course, but for now, this is going to be the super makeshift guest room."

"Unless you're thinking of joining the crew, which would be great, Misaki-san!" Brook added.

"Oh, no way, she's troubled us enough," Zoro said jokingly, which resulted in a punch from Nami.

"Don't be rude!" The orange haired woman hissed. "She's a nice girl, Zoro. You spend the most time with her, so you should know!"

"I know nothing about her being nice," The swordsman said as he rubbed his head.

"I'm the nicest human being in the world." Misaki huffed indignantly.

"You must be joking." The green haired man clicked his tongue and chuckled at their casual, but kinda-toxic banter. It was fun. It was weird to do it, thought Misaki. Saying things just out of the blue- things that wouldn't matter in a few hours. She was still adjusting.

"It's like a donut." Luffy deadpanned, boring holes into the room. "It's gonna fall off."

"It's not gonna fall off! Have faith in your super shipwright!" Franky refuted indignantly, and Misaki bowed to the blue haired cyborg.

"Thank you for the room, but it really wasn't necessary. I could have just continued to sleep in the crow's nest."

"Ahaha, what're you saying, Misaki!? I'll take it, then!" Cara slung her arm around the blue haired girl's neck, catching Misaki by surprise.

"Look at everyone else's rooms, first! You should check out the interior!" Franky suggested, and the thirteen year old didn't object. She was curious as to how so many rooms could possibly fit in such a small ship, granted the shipwright had installed more space.

Luffy's room was literally the best room anyone could ever ask for. It was placed right above Chopper's office, and it was unnecessarily large. The room was pretty empty, but it already looked like a dump due to the mess Luffy was making.

"I'm gonna buy the highest quality futon for the floor!" The captain yodelled.

"Should you really let him sleep on such a lowly thing as a futon when he's the captain?" Misaki asked Nami, who was standing near her when the former was viewing rooms.

"Eh, we let him do what he wants. Luffy doesn't care for extravagance, which is one thing that I like about him." The navigator grinned cheekily. "It saves a lot of money that way,"

Nami didn't waste any time in decorating her new massive room. From the previous city island, she had purchased a foldable, but still unnecessarily large, bed frame, and a poofy mattress. She wanted her bed in one corner, a desk on the other side of the wall, and pictures of her and the crew all over the room.

"How nice." Misaki said.

"Haha, I probably shouldn't be so spoiled as to having the largest room." Nami scratched the back of her head, partly guilty. "But I let Robin take the bed that we shared. Her room's also pretty big, too."

Usopp and Sanji had asked for standard, four wall rooms with two windows. They would purchase their beds later on, they said, but there was really nothing to look at for their plain bedrooms.

Chopper's room was the best, in Misaki's opinion, with a seemingly round interior, only the places where the corners should have been were curved inwards to make the bedroom seem circular so the excess right-angle space would provide as storage space the little reindeer was more than happy to share. The room, overall, wasn't so big, but it was enough for him to want to scatter soft throw pillows all over the floor.

Robin's room was the room that she'd shared with Nami before the renovations, and had stayed pretty much the same, so there wasn't much to look at, besides the fact that she changed the interior to look more like a library, with added shelves all over the place and plants along the floors and windowsills. Franky promised to add little sections where Robin could place the plants that were chilling on the floor, and Robin liked the idea of that, but basically, her walls were filled up to the brim with books and plants. Nami never liked to keep plants in their room because it brought bugs and dirt, so she would only let Robin garden in the gardening area, but the archaeologist was finally free to keep her greenery in the comfort of her own bedroom! Hooray!

Brook had also taken the original guy's room, so he had to clear out a bunch of hammocks and clean up the dirty space. The blue haired man promised his "skeletal bro" that he would line the musician's walls with fresh, smooth surfaces to replace the older wood. The musician also placed his piano, his violin, his guitar, and the rest of his instruments in his room so that when you entered, it looked like a band room without the chairs. Brook also hung up his own posters on the wall to boast that he was pretty much the only Straw Hat pirate who was advertised in a good way.

"How did you possibly do all this? The Sunny doesn't look all that different from the outside, but look at how much space you magically installed!" Misaki exclaimed in curiosity.

"I guess I'm just a SUPEEERRRR shipwright!" Franky cheered for himself and grinned after receiving the compliment.

"Franky already bought a lot of things to personalize the rooms from a previous island, too." Nami contemplated. "Well, time to get crackin' on the hard work!" The slender woman stretched out her fingers as she held a can of light orange paint hanging from her elbow.

"Does it normally take this long to reach an island?" Misaki asked, out of the blue. The orange haired woman pondered her question. "Well, since we just reached that city island, it might take another few days or so, at the normal rate."

"I see…" Misaki said.

"Also, since there are different routes different ships and log poses take, we might have skipped your island. Which might be the reason why it's not turning up."

"...That's…" The blue haired girl's stomach felt heavy when she heard that. She knew of this fact, but had completely forgotten about it until Nami mentioned it.

"But you might have just been traveling far- who knows, really?" The navigator shrugged her shoulders and let out a chuckle. "Now, help me decorate my big-ass room, will you!?"

Dragging the girl to Nami's new bedroom, the two chatted along the way.

* * *

After the ordeal with helping Nami move her colossal pile of clothes into the walk-in closet of her new room (Nami specifically asked for a walk-in closet along with the demand for the balcony and a few other things), arranging a few hundred photos of her with the Straw Hats having a jolly time onto the walls of her bedroom, and having her, Nami, and even Sanji help out with affixing the navigator's incredibly enormous bed to the corner, Misaki was finally free to go. Nami thanked her countless times and didn't know how to repay her kindness, since Misaki didn't have a debt like the rest of the Straw Hat pirates did, and the blue haired girl told her not to worry about it. Sanji also made a sly remark about how the bed was pretty big for one person as Misaki was leaving, and it got his ass beat.

The thirteen year old stared into the sea and wondered what she was going to do. She still had to find Bruce, or at least, figure out his status- meaning whether he was alive or not- and she still didn't know where Sentorappu Island was. There was nothing going for her at the moment besides her Devil Fruit, and even her powers weren't cooperating with her. Robin told her before that her Devil Fruit was a Logia type, which meant that she could summon, transform into, and control water. She didn't know how to summon water yet, but she did want to learn how to control it at the very least, so that she could use it as a weapon. Misaki was literally surrounded with water, and she felt pretty pathetic knowing that if the Sunny drowned, there was only so much she could do against it even though she wielded the power of the freaking _Mizu Mizu no mi._

Misaki took off her shirt and was left in her black tank top. She threw the fabric she discarded to the deck of the Sunny and jumped into the water, hoping to find answers in the ocean itself.

"Yo, did I just see Misaki diving into the water?" Franky asked nearby as he screwed in some adjustments to Chopper's room. Chopper popped his head out from the window of his room and shrieked, "MISAKI, YOU'RE STILL MY PATIENT!"

Misaki felt the ocean like she felt air. There was no substance surrounding her, and she breathed freely.

In and out.

In and out.

Water was like second nature to her already, which she appreciated.

'Maybe I could call out to my friends, the sea creatures.' Misaki joked in her head.

Instantly, the water was illuminated.

"What the-" The navy blue haired girl yelped, and saw creepy looking fish surrounding her- they were all of the same species.

'Stomiidae? Wait, how did I even know?' Misaki wondered. The fish were pretty small, so they looked harmless, and they provided a sufficient amount of glow so that Misaki could see the floor of the sea, but man, were they ugly.

"Wow, look at all the treasure down here!" Misaki gasped. She picked up a pearl necklace that needed severe restoration, but was still probably worth a fortune. She scooped through the dirt and found buried treasure- gold coins and small diamonds that were crushed under the pressure of the water.

"Wait, if I'm at the bottom of the ocean, shouldn't I be dead right now, regardless of my powers?" The young girl thought out loud.

"No, your powers most likely support your ability to withstand the ocean's pressure. You aren't a regular human anymore." Misaki breathed out. "Aaand, I'm talking to myself,"

The Stomiidae fish surrounding her hugged her skin and caressed her fingertips. Any normal human being would probably find this disgusting, but Misaki kind of found a beauty to these types of fish and didn't mind their closeness. Actually, she found their acceptance towards the girl a bit shocking and pleasant. She slid her hands against the tops of some of the fish before swimming away, back up to the parts of the ocean with more natural light. She dropped her newfound treasures as she left the deep sea, as well, kind of feeling wrong by taking something that didn't belong to her, even though she'd done it a few days ago.

The thirteen year old felt something bubble warmly in the pit of her heart, and she made a face at the feeling. 'Strange,' She thought. 'I wonder what that was,'

She then wondered if she could maybe geyser herself out of the ocean like she'd done previously, but have the water more under her control than before. She waved her hands in front of her eyes as if she was about to cut through the ocean and make an opening for her geyser to spout, and in return, the sea granted her with an explosion of bubbles beneath her feet as she was still swimming upwards, which flew her all the way to the surface of the water, and then out, on an elevated table of seawater.

Misaki breathed out as her mission was carried out successfully. She rotated 360 degrees to try and track down the ship that she jumped out from, and found a little silhouette of a familiar vessel far away and in the fog of the afternoon. She flicked her wrist, and almost robotically, the strange table of water that had been carrying her basically drove her to where she needed to go. When Misaki finally reached the ship, she noticed a familiar reindeer frantically hooting and springing up and down at the sight of her.

"Misaki! You're back!" Chopper cried out, hanging by the railed edge of the Sunny. "I was worried for you!"

"Chopper, I'm fine already. You don't have to be so touchy with me- thanks to you, I'm all cured and healthy," Misaki responded with a skip in her tone.

"Whaaatt!? You dumbass, you don't have to say all that, idiot~!" The doctor replied happily, doing his strange dance that the girl had seen before.

Misaki tried to smile, but nothing came out naturally. She knew it was easy for the rest of the Straw Hats to do, but no matter what she did, she couldn't seem to smile. No laughter, no little grins, nothing.

Instead of smiling, then, the blue haired girl turned away from the Sunny and focused on honing the power of her Devil Fruit more. She took one hand and made a similar motion to when she first summoned her geyser, and another one before her formed, slightly lower than the one she was sitting on.

As clarified before, water didn't make her wet, which meant that she was able to stand up from the water without feeling soggy or heavy. The navy blue haired girl hopped to the other geyser and summoned a third, and then there were three random geysers in the sea that decelerated like stairs. Misaki knew that her powers weren't just limited to geysers and water tables, so she dismissed them into the ocean with another wave of her hand and stood on the surface of the sea. There were mini rolling waves caused by the Sunny, so it was still easy for her to walk on the water without tripping on catastrophic currents.

The young girl decided that from this point on, her water training would be done in sea.

* * *

A few weeks had already passed, and Misaki and Cara were familiarizing themselves with the ship and the fellow crew mates. Robin had stopped ignoring the blue haired girl, and in fact, the two were engaging in some heated discussions and debates about a few issues and controversies of the world and the history of the Grand Line.

Misaki also noted that the Straw Hat Pirates were more frequently attacked than she'd ever believed. Pirates, Marines, and even vacation ships would stop and shoot at the Sunny, just to get a chance to take the head of one of the crew. She didn't really blame them, either. Luffy's head was one for 500 million, which was enough to create a small country. The others were also set for high prices, albeit, Chopper's was laughable.

However, she also realized that the Straw Hat Pirates, when under attack, never killed. Never sunk a ship, and never really brought any major damage to any single person or thing.

Misaki was kind of in awe due to this, seeing as to how easy it would have been just to murder every single person on one ship, due to the Straw Hat Pirates and their immense strength.

"Why should we? It just wastes so much more energy we have to save for other assholes who come around and disturb my peace." Zoro shrugged. Misaki gave him a glare, knowing that he was referring to her. Well, she was satisfied with the answer, however, since this meant that Zoro didn't kill innocent people who were blinded by wealth.

Misaki was intrigued with each and every member aboard the ship.

Brook, because of his soothing violin every night that would help Cara's nightmares disappear and Misaki's insomnia vanish.

Usopp and Franky, for their constant building, inventing, and creating. Sanji and his fascinatingly amazing food that she'd only dreamt about. Chopper, for his cuteness and huggableness, along with his skills as the best doctor the navy blue haired girl had ever seen.

Luffy and his peculiar mannerisms, ironic to the fact that he was the captain of one of the most notorious pirate crews in the Grand Line.

Zoro, since he was her mentor and had many personalities around different people, Misaki had noticed.

Nami and Robin, because of their intelligence and their ability to work together surprisingly well. This only came as a shock to Misaki since she'd always thought that if there was only one other girl in any given setting, you were immediately rivals. That was what came to be when Misaki was in Sentorappu- most girls her age, when they first met her, saw her as a rival, since they were new to being a slave and didn't know to survive, you needed friends to keep you alive and, essentially, sane. But no more on that.

In particular, Franky piqued her interest, due to his ability to create improvements to ships in the speed of sound. He was working on a special project that he wouldn't let anyone but Usopp know about, since he needed the long nosed man's help. But Usopp couldn't help but gush about the new "project," barely keeping the secret an actual secret. Misaki was really looking forward to the installment Franky would be finishing up in a few days, and the others were, as well, judging from their giddy faces. Usopp was attacked daily for spoilers.

Well, more on that later.

One particular day, Misaki was working on her magic when the Sunny experienced a sudden jolt by some miniscule attack, no doubt. Luffy and Zoro had already taken down the pirate ship by the time she had seen a glimpse of its Jolly Roger. The flag was just a black one with a white skull on it, the generic Jolly Roger that you would see on a cartoon show.

"That's strange…" Nami muttered.

"What?" Misaki asked. "What do you mean?"

"Usually, they put up more of a fight. So that could only mean that they're rookies." Nami answered quickly. "But for a rookie pirate ship to get this far… is just a little odd."

Misaki pondered on what Nami had said after she left to get something citrusy to eat, pacing back and forth at the comment that she had made. It was clear that they _were,_ indeed, rookies, but exactly how were they this far into the Grand Line?

But the Straw Hats weren't too worried about it, so Misaki chose not to stress out about it, either. She went into the library to find something to read.

* * *

During her time spent with the Straw Hat Pirates, Misaki would usually either be doing any of the following: cooking with Sanji, training with Zoro, talking with either Cara, Nami, Robin, or Chopper, or sleeping.

She slept a lot.

"Misaki's been really tired, recently." Zoro nudged Cara one day, as the two gazed at Misaki, who was sleeping peacefully on the benches of the crow's nest.

"Oh. She's probably making up all the time she missed as a slave. We only got three hours of sleep at night, at the most. It became routine for us to doze off during work, but Misaki was always alert and all. I guess she's more or less wearing that habit off." Cara explained nonchalantly. Zoro only stared at the white haired woman in shock.

"...What? You already know that we were enslaved. I thought you'd be chill about it."

"Yeah, I mean, I guess. But I didn't know you would open up so willingly. About something like that, I mean." The marimo said.

"Well, she'll be fine." Cara cleared her throat, changing the subject.

"Maybe it's the Devil Fruit that's making her sleep more, since it forces her to use a lot of her energy." Zoro suggested.

"Oh, really? Is that how Devil Fruits work?" Cara placed her hands behind her head.

"Not that I know of. Misaki's the first person I know who's swallowed a Devil Fruit and could still swim." He answered.

Zoro inhaled softly, and then there was a brief silence.

"She's been through a lot, you know." Cara blurted out suddenly. "She's suffered more than any other slave I know. She didn't die, which would have been a lot easier than just staying alive in Sentorappu and suffering everyone else's deaths and torture."

"I understand." Zoro said. "She told me."

"She may appear strong, but she's still only thirteen years old. No one in your crew is that young, and none of you ever went through the hardships she went through." Cara began raising her voice, but when it became apparent, she stopped herself and took a deep breath. Afterwards, she straightened her posture and turned away to leave the crow's nest. "I'm... I'm sorry. I don't... Anyway. Just… Please don't hurt her any more than she's already been. And even though it may be hard, please let us stay until we find Bruce."

"Yeah. Ero Cook probably won't let go of Misaki, anyway." The green haired man rolled his eyes.

"We've burdened you enough, but it's true that your ship is a great place to be in. Everyone here is so kind. It feels like a dream." The former slave faced the swordsman again. "I'd personally love to stay here with Bruce and Misaki, but it'd be rude. When we find my brother, it would be awesome if you guys could just let us off at a nice island or something like that."

"Hold on." Zoro put a hand up. "Didn't you guys plan to go to Sentorappu Island again? To, like, release all the slaves there?"

Cara winced.

Zoro's left eye twitched.

"O-Of course. I completely forgot." The woman laughed. "Yeah. Sentorappu... Uhhm, if you don't mind, I'm going to leave. I have a sharpshooting lesson with Long Nose!" She waved nervously and jumped off an open window of the crow's nest.

* * *

"How far do you think we drifted away from Sentorappu?"

Cara flinched when Misaki spoke up. The two of them were sitting on the railing of the Sunny, near the grass deck of the ship, drinking pineapple colas made by Sanji.

"Ahh... Who knows, Misaki? But think about it- we were blasted off to different islands, but we managed to find each other really quickly." Cara answered, and at the same time, didn't give her an exact response to her real question.

"Mmm." Misaki hummed, chewing on her straw. "We're gonna find Bruce, no matter what. Then, we'll go back to Sentorappu and free the other kids and adults."

"...Right." Cara chimed in hesitantly.

"Maybe we'll even be able to get out alive, right?" The younger girl turned to Cara, who only smiled sincerely.

"Cheer up, Misaki. What really matters is that _we're_ alive and healthy, right?"

"...I guess so…"

"And we get to know forever that we survived that hell of a place. When the world gets rid of Celestial Dragons, once and for all, we can say that we fucked shit up." She held the blue haired girl's shoulder lovingly and soothingly. Cara was the person closest to Misaki throughout her entire life. She never gave up and never left her side. And she never failed to make Misaki feel comfortable and loved.

"Okay. I get it…" Misaki lightly brushed the hand off and took another sip of her soda. "What's our plan to find Bruce?"

"I dunno. The last thing didn't really work out. But if we keep traveling to different islands, we're bound to run into him. He couldn't have gone far, right?" Cara was hopeful. Misaki was just hoping that Bruce was alive.

"Yeah. He couldn't have gone far." At least the thirteen year old was good at hiding her expressions. She dropped the subject and walked with Cara to the donut-shaped room that they shared- using a big mattress and clean, pink sheets that Nami lent out to the two friends, they would sleep in the guest bedroom every night. Misaki made a mental note to decorate the guest room with nice things, using her new talent as a sunken treasure magnet, as thanks, before she left the Sunny. It was the least she could do, after all that these people had done for her and Cara.

The bedroom, even with minimal decorations and even more minimal pieces of furniture, was the best place Misaki had ever slept in. As soon as her head landed on the soft down pillows Nami had purchased at the mall, she couldn't think straight. She was in a land of clouds.

This was heaven- legitimate heaven- compared to the nights at Sentorappu.

Misaki's toes were frantically twitching with nervousness and anxiousness, impatient to rescue her dear friends and all the suffering slaves in that disgusting, cold basement.

Misaki was afraid of even using the blanket covers because it really felt odd and out of place, considering the fact that she spent almost an entire decade sleeping with just her ragged dress over her body, having to sit her legs on cold metal or the dirty ground.

Cara was also thoroughly enjoying the bed, as well. She was rolling around in the large-ass king-sized bed, giggling and waving her arms in the air.

"Isn't this awesome, Misaki!? We get to sleep here! I feel weird just thinking about it!"

"It's been weeks, Cara. Get used to it already. But don't get too used to it, obviously." Misaki reminded the older woman, who pouted. "We're going to have to get off the Sunny sooner or later."

"Mmph." was the only response given to the blue haired girl.

The two girls talked about insignificant things, rambling and drunkenly mumbling until they drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep.

* * *

 _I feel at home_

 _But I don't at the same time_

 _When will I be on my way to my home_

 _Home sweet home?_

* * *

Misaki, at this point, was losing hope that the Sunny would ever reach Sentorappu.

Thinking about it, the Straw Hat pirates probably used a different route venturing through islands not including Sentorappu Island, since she had been with them for around an entire month at this point and knew for sure that she hadn't drifted too far away from the slaveholding island.

But on the flip side, the blue haired girl was enjoying her new, free life with her friends. She'd learned so much about each Straw Hat pirate, and they learned a few casual things about herself, too. She enjoyed spending time with Robin and Chopper the most, if she had to pick, since they always emitted a calming aura and were never too hot headed or stupid. Her training regimen and kendo practice with Zoro was also going really well, and the latter got quite used to her hanging out with him (she was used by Nami as a helper to guide Zoro through all the islands so the others wouldn't have to go through the hassle of trying to locate him), and he graduated from treating her like an outsider to almost like a younger sister.

Well, at least, she felt like a younger sister, since Zoro wouldn't stop pestering her and would argue with her like the two of them spent a lifetime in the same house as siblings.

The only problematic person aboard the ship was Brook- although he couldn't really be considered a person, since he was just a skeleton… and dead. Misaki would frequently find her underwear that she bought from the first island going missing, and she knew it couldn't have been anyone else, as the violinist openly expressed his creepy devotion to panties.

She didn't confront him about the issue, though. She didn't know what would happen if she did.

When the Straw Hats docked on the island the villagers called Crystalized Land, When they docked on the shore of the island, Misaki finally understood why Crystalized Land was given its name.

The placed was covered with glittering salt crystals from the high sodium concentration in the water surrounding the island, but the quirk was that the crystals weren't the normal white shade, but vibrant swatches of purple or blue. All the people inhabiting the island would wear thick boots to keep their feet from being stabbed by the prickly crystals, although there were roads and farms with smooth ground. The place was a tourist attraction, but also great in economy and trade, since the people made most of their money exporting these rare crystals out to other islands.

"We should buy some of the crystals!" Nami exclaimed.

"For what purpose are they even used for?" Usopp questioned.

"I have no idea. I think it's just supposed to make things look fancier." The orange haired woman replied. "Oh, I'd love to wear it as jewelry! Look at how it sparkles when the sun hits it! It's like a diamond, Robin!" She pushed her fellow friend to admire the crystals on the pathway of the dock.

"Why would you wear it as jewelry? That'd be some painful jewelry," The green haired swordsman imagined the sharp edges of the crystals piercing Nami's neck.

"Gee, I didn't know that you stabbed yourself with your salt crystal necklaces," Nami murmured sarcastically.

"Then let's not waste our money with anything from this island," Zoro hopped off the ship and urged Misaki to follow. "We have to get sugar and more fuel for the Sunny, and we'll leave as soon as we buy."

"Luffy, Zoro, and I will go." Misaki said quickly.

"Can I come, too?" Cara asked.

"No. You should learn more about sharpshooting from Usopp." Misaki prompted, almost like a mother.

"Aw." Cara snapped.

"Okay, then you three can get all that we need. Meet us all here after you're finished!" The navigator agreed, "And don't forget to buy some jewelry~!" She added as Franky waved goodbye to the three who were leaving.

The blue haired girl waved back and then turned back around to face the direction of the central portion of the island.

"I wonder if there's any good booze here," Zoro sniffed. Misaki groaned internally. Pretty much every single island that she had been on with said swordsman, he would become a dog to any nearby pub and would also heckle Misaki until they went in to get a "few" drinks.

"No, let's not get booze, Zoro." Misaki warned him quickly.

"Come on, Ero Cook never lets me keep enough alcohol on the Sunny, so I gotta recharge when I'm off the ship." He complained. "That's just how I function!"

"Fine. Pay for your booze with your own money."

"I don't have any money." The swordsman answered.

"That's the point."

"Hahaha, Zoro, you're broke!" Luffy broke into a fit of giggles.

"Do _you_ have any money, Luffy?" The thirteen year old asked the pirate captain. He gulped down his laughs and resorted to a goofy smile. "Touché…"

Misaki kept walking with a fast pace, causing the other two to fall behind. Eventually, Luffy and Zoro seemed to just be following her instead of walking beside her into the populated portion of the island, doing random shit behind her which was embarrassingly noticeable. Misaki would often stop to turn around and make sure that Zoro was still there because first of all, he was more silent than anything when he walked, and second, if you were on the Sunny, it wouldn't even take more than a week to figure out how lost this marimo could get.

"Oh, why don't you ask Franky to install a winery into the basement of the ship?" Misaki asked as she continued to walk, directing her speech towards Zoro.

"I would have, but I don't drink wine." The swordsman responded obliviously.

"Well, you can have beer instead of wine, then. It doesn't take up too much space so that Sanji won't get mad at you for having large amounts of alcohol at a time, and you could make it safer by adding binds and tying it down when there's too much movement in the ship."

"Still, I drink by the barrel." Zoro argued. "And that means there'll be no space in the basement. Besides, we're always running low on money, and Franky doesn't like beer, which means that he probably wouldn't appreciate my alcohol in his space."

"Then you could ask Franky to make a room for you, for your beer. Or, since you're receiving your own room, you can store some alcohol." Misaki suggested as Luffy chased down a fox in the background.

"I guess. But drinking authentically, from all different places and islands, is interesting, too." Zoro said. "You told me that you don't like alcohol, but when you're of age, you might be able to understand what it does to your soul."

"Does it _enlighten_ you?" The navy blue haired girl questioned sarcastically.

"Kind of."

"You can get enlightened with Mallow Mars." Misaki deadpanned. "Mallow Mars chocolates are better."

"I dislike chocolate."

"What? No way. I object."

Zoro let out a bright guffaw. "You know, if you didn't always have that grumpy face, people would love your personality."

Misaki faltered to bring up a comeback because... hell, he was right. She always wore the same types of expressions. All types- expressionless, sarcastic, angry, sad- all besides happy or enthusiastic ones. Because she never smiled- never had a reason to- she just didn't know how to change her face... or her outlook of the world. Misaki guessed that was where she was supposed to start. But how was she going to do that when she was already scarred with the darkness surrounding her?

As the thirteen year old led the other two around the island's market, Luffy discovered the sugar at a small, wooden stand and the blue haired girl, having all the money, asked for a large bag of the sugar. The cost was a bit more expensive than what she'd expected, but she paid the price anyway. Luffy snatched the brown bag tied with twine, swiped his finger on the top of the opening, where there were a few granules of sugar there, and licked the sweetness off his hand.

"That's disgusting, Luffy." Misaki reprimanded the childish boy, and in return, the raven haired pirate grunted and ignored her statement.

"You're sounding more and more like Nami, you know that?"

"Do you think that they sell cola here?" Zoro looked around. "This entire island seems pretty basic and all."

"Hmm… We won't know until we go through all the stores." The girl answered quite optimistically.  
"I guess, but my legs aren't up to it." The green haired man sighed. "...Unless…" He hesitated when he said "unless" in a sly way.

"...Fine, I'll get you some beer to drink." Misaki handed the man a few beris. "But we should go together."

"Hey, Luffy! Let's go get drinks at a bar!" He waved over Luffy excitedly, while the latter was ogling an old woman cook up some chicken kebabs on a grill.

"Cominggg!"

Misaki sighed as the two grown men happily galloped around, Zoro asking vendor owners for directions to the nearest bar.

She only followed them with a slow pace, admiring the small outdoor stands and each of their individuality. One store sold different kinds of fabrics, while another displayed an array of fresh fish, the scales of the seafood glistening in a similar way that the salt crystals all over the island did.

But while she was viewing the many stands, she fell to the floor because someone bumped into her.

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't see you as I was walking," The voice spoke politely, a voice that was all too familiar.

* * *

 **Edited May 31st, 2019**

 **well you all know who it is-**

 **IT'S JOHN CENAAAAAA**

 **sorry that's such a 2012 joke**

 **Thanks for reaading, and as always, please review!**


	12. Chapter 12: Caught

**Chapter 12: Caught**

* * *

 **Well the title seems promising**

* * *

Misaki fell on her butt when a figure, a good five inches taller than her, draped in a light brown cape, bumped into her back. She turned and made a face at the person, who then said, "Oh, I'm sorry," after noticing her.

But Misaki knew that voice.

The blood in her face was drained when those words escaped the not-so-stranger's lips, as he flinched ever so slightly when he got a good look at the shorter girl's shocked face. A smile creeped up on the cloaked person, as he revealed himself.

"My, my. Father wasn't kidding." Rekatsu lent out a hand for Misaki to take, most likely. She would never find out, since she scooted back in defense and got up in a heartbeat, never taking her eyes off him. The blue haired girl noticed that he was accompanied by two other figures, wearing similar capes, only a few shades darker. 'So they can't be Celestial Dragons. They must be guards.' She analyzed in her mind.

"When I heard from Father that you escaped with three other slaves, I was kinda devastated, Misaki." Rekatsu slowly retracted his hand. "You were my crush since I first laid eyes on you, and that never changed. It hasn't changed. Even if you were a slave, do you really think I would have let you go, just like that?"

"W-What are you doing here?" Misaki got in a defensive position that Zoro taught her during one of their sessions, and was ready to pull out her knife she kept looped around her belt.

"Obviously, looking for you," The black haired Noble answered coolly as the guards behind him turned their full attention on Misaki and probably acquiring her.

"It wasn't easy. We went through many islands before this one." He sighed, as if he'd gone through more than Misaki could ever imagine. "We even ran into one of your friends." Rekatsu added slyly. "He was troublesome, but we managed to… contain him."

"You mean… You found Bruce? You killed Bruce?" Misaki barely whispered, her shoulders quivering.

He flinched lightly, as if he were surprised by the reasonable accusation. "Kill him? No, we didn't kill him. I... tried... torture to see if I could get anything out of his moronic brain. But he said he didn't know anything." The Celestial Dragon answered simply. A human life to Celestial Dragons really meant that little to them, didn't it.

Misaki was furious, not only because Bruce was in trouble and on the verge of death, but by the way Rekatsu spoke about… well, everything. Rekatsu had always been a piece of shit, but a person who was normal in the head would have been irritated out of their minds whenever he opened his mouth and spewed such atrocities in that twisted, chilling voice of his. He was so calm and collected while she, on the other hand, wanted to shred him to millions of pieces, but she was holding back because any misstep could lead to not only her death, but also the deaths of her friends.

"Don't worry, Misaki. Bruce will be just fine." The raven haired boy shuffled closer to Misaki and slowly coiled his arm around her shoulders. "As long as you come with-" He started, but never finished his sentence.

"Misaki, what're you stalling for?" Zoro walked up to the younger girl and scratched his head. "Luffy's going crazy about those skewers." He then noticed Rekatsu, who was behind Misaki. Her tensed shoulders and her decision not to turn around from the stranger gave Zoro a good idea of what was going on.

"Oh. Is this a friend of yours?" The green haired man's eyes darkened noticeably and was prepared to pull out his katana, subtly moving his hand closer to the swords.

Misaki backed away from Rekatsu and closer to Zoro. "He's not."

"Careful what you say, Misaki, or it might hurt your friend." The black haired Noble warned with an eerie smile.

"Why should I trust you?" Misaki blurted out. "How do I know that you're just bluffing to trick me?"

"Fair enough," Rekatsu shrugged, snapping his fingers right after. "Capture them."

Immediately, the two guards behind the Celestial Dragon jumped out of their brown cloaks and lunged to attack Zoro and Misaki. The swordsman, in retaliation, drew two of his swords, and the thirteen year old brought her knife.

"Seriously? Where are your swords!?" Zoro shrieked, as one of the guards started attacking him with a staff with a short blade, but had something else attached to the opposite end that was covered by his grip on the weapon.

"I left them in the Sunny! They were too heavy to lug arou-" Misaki explained, and was quickly interrupted by her attacker.

"Now, now, you shouldn't be chit-chatting while I'm trying my best to knock you out," The man grunted with a cheeky grin. "If you _do_ have time, however, my name's Dorian,"

Dorian tried pushing his weapon (a similar weapon to the other guard's) into the girl's stomach, hoping to knock her out with the force, but Misaki forced her stomach to phase into water instead, so that the weapon impaled her clean.

"A Devil Fruit?" Rekatsu's eye twitched.

"I heard that you won all the battles you signed up for when you were a slave, but I had no idea you wielded a Devil Fruit!" He laughed. "Did you swipe it after you escaped? Probably, right? It wasn't in my reports when I was sent out by the head to go get you."

The girl chose not to respond to any of Dorian's remarks and focused on the fighting. She managed to inflict a small amount of damage on the man, but she was getting more injured than he was.

"She swallowed a Devi Fruit?" Rekatsu questioned Dorian, ignoring that he was fighting someone at the moment.

"That's right, Boss! It can't be anything other than that!" Dorian replied nonchalantly.

Zoro was having his own problems with Guard #2. The attacker was female, actually, and had long, blond hair which surprisingly never got in the way of her ridiculously crazy fighting style. The woman assaulted him mercilessly and without rest, never stopping for a breath or a word, unlike her partner, who was garbling paragraph after paragraph, much to Misaki's annoyance.

"Luffy! Where the hell are you!?" Zoro screamed on the top of his lungs. "For fuck's sake-"

"Don't try to get anyone else involved," The blond slid the tip of her sword to the swordsman's exposed chest, her face dangerously close to his own. "We'll just enslave Monkey D. Luffy, too."

"Hah, you can't enslave our captain. He'll fuck you up, like I'm about to!" Zoro backed up, making the woman fall to the ground temporarily, and then he slammed the butt of his sword into her back. She cried out in pain. Zoro turned to Misaki, who was still fighting her opponent, and pushed the younger girl away.

"Zoro!"

"Step aside, amateur, I got this," The green haired man smirked.

"I see you got a hit on Dana, over there. But you should have killed her. She'll stand up soon." Dorian said in between strikes and clashes of sword against sword.

"You talk too much." Zoro stated simply.

"Meat, meat, meaty-meaty-" Luffy then cavorted into the scene, but his happy face was instantly replaced with an expressionless one when he viewed the scene. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Help me out, Luffy-" Zoro said in between his fight, and then the female guard rose up. She went for the kill as she drove her weapon into Zoro's back, Luffy not reacting quickly enough and Misaki already occupied with another perspective of the fight so that she couldn't notice the blond. Zoro felt a sharp pain into his back, but the guard didn't use as much force as she should have because it didn't touch any vitals.

The swordsman _did_ go down, however, but didn't back down from the fight, as he blocked every attack with his sword with strained attempts. Dorian was having too much fun witnessing his agony, as he ruthlessly dealt out numerous jabs. Luffy then punched the guard from behind, while Misaki was already taking care of the woman (well, she was trying her hardest to fight her, but Misaki was still inexperienced in combat with professionals).

Dorian, in a moment of ecstasy, switched his weapon from the strange sword to a simple looking blade- well, it did seem to look like a normal knife, indeed, but it was actually a needle with a flat, knife-like appearance. But what Misaki was worried about was that there might be liquid inside the needle. Dangerous drugs that could do something very harmful to the person who faced them. Before she could say anything, however, Dorian plunged the knife into the already handicapped Zoro's shoulder, who didn't take it well. He yelled in agony and placed a hand on his newfound injury as the drug took effects, coursing through his body.

"Luffy- Watch out!" Misaki screeched, but the boy was busy with his own problems- his main one being a blond woman fighting him with all her energy. She took out a duplicate of Dorian's knife and impaled the poor rubber man in the neck.

"I heard you're impenetrable to guns. Good thing we use blades, not bullets. You'll see stars, but you'll be fine." She whispered into Luffy's ear as he grunted in the same pain that Zoro had felt moments ago. The two pirates were still standing, but they were in awful condition- their faces were pale and their energy was drained.

Dana- the suspected name of the female guard- moved on from slumped and weakened Luffy to the dark blue haired girl who was standing still as an onlooker. Misaki blocked her first attack with her knife.

"I love this- being evenly matched with the big shots of the Grand Line!" Dorian exclaimed, accentuating every of his words with excitement.

"You're a psychopath!" Misaki shrieked as she continuously defending herself from Dana.

The male guard's expression darkened, as did his partner's, and not so far away, Rekatsu's.

"No, _you guys_ are the psychopaths," Rekatsu sneered, firing his words at Zoro, Luffy, and Misaki. "You pirates, who don't know any better than submissively begging and drooling for treasure…" His eyes bore into Misaki, who was too busy to pay attention to the raven haired boy, but could feel his aura for sure, "and you, Misaki-chan, for escaping our paradise."

"Paradise?" Misaki stopped fighting. She let her entire body become clear, ocean water.

"What-" The blond guard was unprepared for Misaki's sudden change and flew back. 'Was she holding back from me this whole time? Is this the power of a Devil Fruit?' She thought spitefully. All of the guard's attacks suddenly became futile.

"Paradise?" Misaki repeated. Her eye twitched with irritation at the sound of Rekatsu's annoying, deep voice.

"Yes, Misaki. _Paradise_."

Misaki, still in her liquid form, brought out a gun that she also had with her, and attempted to fire at Rekatsu. She missed, barely.

"Ahh, Misaki, you don't understand?" The black haired Noble didn't seem fazed at all by the sudden bullet that went whizzing across his face. "Sentorappu was heaven for us. Oh, and by the way, you can't hurt me. I actually have an invisible field around me, and it can only be broken by the force of a... hmm, what was it called again?"

"A nuclear bomb," Dana finished Reakatsu's sentence while fighting.

"Yes! A nuclear bomb, apparently." He cleared his throat and recovered with his regular smile.

"I suffered every day! I was in pain every single moment of my life, in Sentorappu, and so were millions of other innocent people, thanks to your so-called 'paradise-'"

"Nope. You're wrong there." Rekatsu stood firm. "We gave you so many chances, so many opportunities, to become great. To become more wonderful and more incredible than you already are." The Celestial Dragon made a hand gesture to the blond guard, and she interpreted this as a code to stop attacking Misaki (since the attempts were useless anyway) and join in the fight with injured Zoro and Luffy against the eccentric Dorian. Misaki felt helpless, as she wanted to help the two, but felt like she should keep an eye on Rekatsu to see what he would do.

"What are you talking about?" The blue haired girl demanded angrily.

"When the doctors tested you, you refused the high class placement. When my father invited you to join him time to time, you'd refuse or act arrogantly. Refusal after refusal, our attempts decreased by every year." Rekatsu sighed. "It was your stubbornness that kept you out of the true paradise that was Sentorappu." He smirked. "All of the first class slaves? They could never, ever compare to you. You're the shining gem of our island. You are the greatest valuable, the priceless possession that anyone could ever have." He stepped closer to Misaki. "Did you know? Every time a foolish guard or torturer put a single hand on you when it wasn't necessary, we would literally throw them out of the island. And every scar you received, the person responsible, no matter what status was executed? Think about it Misaki. They were put on the same level as the low class slaves and were put to death, just like them."

"You're lying." Misaki said. "How could I trust anything you say?"

"I'm really not. You claim that you're hurting for not only yourself, but all the other slaves in Sentorappu's basement. But in reality, you're the one killing them off. You tried protecting Charlie Rehtakana, years ago. Remember her?" He flicked his hand and a hologram was dragged into the air, presenting an image of an ever so familiar-looking girl with a fierce look and pink hair.

Misaki flinched. "That's-!"

"-The girl in the same testing room as you, yes, I was informed of this event a few months ago, actually. It was so amusing that it brought me to tears, I tell you." He grinned. "Anyway, you tried to protect her, thinking that third class was going to be too rough on the girl who only knew service that was easier and less traumatizing. But you ended up killing her instead. The story was actually kind of foolish, to be honest."

Misaki gritted her teeth, looking up at the sixteen year old, who was now right in front of her.

"Misaki, with all of your refusals, just came more gifts unto you. Gifts from paradise. We hoped that your increasing amount of gifts would show how important you are to all the Celestial Dragons, especially Father."

"Gifts? What gifts?" The girl growled. She released herself from her water body and returned back to normal, but gripped her gun tightly. A bad move on her prt, to let down her guard, but Rekatsu just seemed like he wanted to spout some bullshit for another two hours.

"Why, the deaths of those worthless people, of course!" Rekatsu smiled. That smile made Misaki feel like she was being pulverized by a snake and she just couldn't get rid of the feeling of poison seeping through her veins.

"The deaths of the people who hurt you. The deaths of the people who are lesser than you. The deaths of the people who you once thought as equals, or higher beings." The black haired boy chuckled. "I remember that Father once killed a Celestial Dragon with his own hands after the latter tried to attack you." He put a hand below her chin, stroking her lovingly. "We did this all for you. For your paradise. And you ignored all our work."

Misaki slammed her fist into Rekatsu's gut, even though she was previously informed of the body force field that the bastard had on. Surprisingly, the raven haired boy did fall back by quite a lot, but he didn't look as injured as Misaki would have liked. The two guards stopped fighting with Zoro and Luffy instantly and tried running to their master, but were both stopped by a swift hand from Rekatsu's still conscious body.

"No. Let her rampage all she wants with me. It's only a matter of time until I get it through her head." He chuckled, as if he was babysitting a kid who was in the process of throwing a tantrum, which only pissed Misaki off even more.

"You will _never…_ ever get anything through my head, because everything that comes out of your foul mouth is complete _bullshit_!" Misaki screamed as she started punching Rekatsu's face repeatedly. He wasn't affected at all because of his now proven-to-be impenetrable suit.

'There must be some way to crack the suit-' Misaki tried to think, but as she was distracted by these thoughts, she was faced with hands that pushed her to the ground. Before she could say anything or act upon the trap, she felt something inject into her neck.

"Misaki, you should have trained more if you were really thinking of escaping me." Before she could punch Rekatsu another time, Misaki felt an acute jab at her shoulder. Something- a needle, perhaps- was injected into her flesh. She tried to slash at Rekatsu once more, but her attempts were futile. The blue haired girl's arm suddenly became wobbly and out of energy. With the remaining shards of energy she had left, the thirteen year old girl fumbled at the part that had been given a dose of… something. What… was it... Was it sleeping medicine?

Her thoughts were in discord and she could feel her mind racing a thousand miles per hour at the effect of the drug. She felt her body fall to the ground as her legs were brushed by the thick cape Rekatsu had been wearing. A hand grabbed her thin wrist and pulled her upwards, and her body was too limp to react.

"Misaki!" Luffy yelled, underneath the grasp of Dana.

"Keep them distracted until I board the ship with her." Misaki heard the black haired Noble say before she fully lost consciousness.

* * *

"Dang, she's really hot,"

"Shut up, you're gonna get castrated by Rekatsu-sama."

"You don't think she's hot?"

"She's _thirteen_ , you creep. There's a whole ass blanket over most of her body. _And_ her eyes aren't even open. How can you tell?"

"Lay loose a lil' bit, you're so uptight. Don't you think she's attractive, at least? A little bit?"

"I do, but get outta here. Your loud voice is gonna wake her up."

Misaki's eyes fluttered open to the sounds of unfamiliar voices. Her body wasn't chained up, like she expected, but she did have one chain she was internally grimacing at- a tight collar with a dangerous-looking red eye right in the middle, around her neck- something she _was_ familiar to.

"Oh, hey, Princess, you're awake!" The first guard who Misaki had heard the voice of got up from his chair. She didn't know what the two probably-guards looked like, since her face was looking directly at the ceiling and she was still too groggy to actually get up.

But the blue haired girl lifted her head, which was weighed down by her collar. It didn't take too long to adjust to it. After all, she had worn it for nine years, anyway.

"Aww, don't get up. The anesthesia's effects haven't worn off just yet."

Misaki faced the two, sitting up in her bed, which she found to be quite comfortable. She looked around, noticing that she was in a bedroom. Well, bedroom was a modest word to describe these humongous bed chambers. And considering that she was rocking around, even when she wasn't moving herself, she was probably on the ship Rekatsu spoke of right before she lost consciousness. There was an unnecessary amount of space in this one room, and it looked so classy. Misaki felt uncomfortable right away.

The guards she finally turned to were in uniform, standing pretty far away, at the bedroom doors.

'Probably to keep me from escaping,' She thought.

"Hey, Misaki-chan! We've all heard of you before. And we've also seen you before. In one of your battles." The guard who'd mentioned anesthesia introduced themselves first. "My name's Carl, and this one is Dirk."

"Where am I?" Misaki asked, disregarding their rather polite introductions. They were still Hakotsu's pawns, and she didn't want anything from them besides information.

"Aww, not even the cliché, 'How long was I asleep?'" Dirk questioned with a fluttery, high-pitched tone when he said, "How long was I asleep."

"In a royal ship." Carl said. "I love the duvet covers here- they're so friggin' comfortable."

"No, I mean, where are we? In the Grand Line?" The navy blue haired girl corrected her question, tousling her own hair.

"Yeah, we're still in the Grand Line. But far, far away from where you just came from." He said. "So don't think about escaping. We already know about your Devil Fruit and all."

'So they probably don't know that I can swim,' The blue haired girl thought. 'Escape won't be as hard as I thought. But what about Bruce? Is he really with Rekatsu? And what about Zoro and Luffy? Did they bring them here… aboard this ship?'

"Also, we didn't take your two friends. They're still at the island," And as if he'd read her mind, the other guard spoke up.

The blue haired girl flinched at the mention of the two pirates she'd essentially left behind on Crystallized Island. She felt horrible that she let her guard down after enabling Rekatsu to talk his way right to her train of thought, and she was also surprised that Luffy and Zoro had lost against- what were their names again?- Dana and Dorian...

"Unharmed?" Misaki questioned skeptically.

"Well… Not really. But they'll live." He answered bluntly. "Well, besides the point, Rekatsu-sama's actually a lot more pissed than you think. You went missing for a few months, and we had to scourge every possible island you could have landed on. So try to lighten his mood when you're eating with him."

"I'm not eating with that-" Misaki argued, but was silenced by three maids that came scurrying into the room in an orderly fashion, carrying neatly folded up fabrics and dresses that were shades of light blues and pinks.

"Hello, Misaki-sama. The young master wishes for you to be in proper attire when you dine with him." The front maid said, not lifting her head to face the young girl.

"Again, I won't be eating with him!" Misaki protested.

"No, no, you must." The maids refuted in creepy synchronization, bowing at majestically similar angles when they spoke. The entire ship gave Misaki chills, and she didn't want to spend another second on it. But she had to be careful about everything she did. One wrong move could potentially kill her friends, and Bruce, who actually might be on the ship.

She begrudgingly agreed- without saying a word- to listen to the maids. The first out of the threesome whispered to one of the guards, most likely ordering him to leave with his friend, since right after the communication exchange, the two men escorted themselves out professionally.

The maids put on wildly different styles of dresses on the thirteen year old after the guards had left the room. One was frilly and girly. Another was quite plain. And the last one Misaki tried on was a nice shade of a faded blue, simple, but also looking expensive, as if it was meticulously designed just for her.

What Misaki found interesting was that all her life, she'd never seen the same maids in different locations. They all had their own rightful place and their respected job, and even on the rare days the blue haired girl and the rest of the slaves were let outside for some natural light, she never saw any familiar faces of workers who walked around in the central building of Sentorappu Island. Well, she assumed that she'd one day have to spot one outside, but she never did. The maids never left their positions. What, were they tied in place?

The thought whizzed into one ear and out another speedily because now wasn't the time to think about the surplus amount of maids available in Sentorappu. There were other things that were bullying Misaki's brain, such as eating with a boy she hated with a rigorous passion. Something she was looking forward to.

On another note, all the gowns fit Misaki perfectly, and she didn't really know how to react when she realized.

The maids went with the last dress, as they didn't bother to take it off her body, and it was the last option.

The blue haired girl was also given many options of shoes and accessories. She was ultimately appointed a silver sterling necklace, a simple flower pin on her hair, and ironically, glass heels.

"Just like Cinderella," The shortest out of the three squeaked out, seemingly the youngest. Misaki cringed. Was the mention of a fairytale really the appropriate thing to bring up in this situation?

"Please, follow us to the dining room." The front maid spoke soothingly. Misaki complied as she followed them, tugging at her dress nervously.

"Does the dress bring you discomfort?" The same woman asked Misaki as they were walking down a long hallway. This was some ship.

"Not at all." The girl answered simply as she continued to walk along the shiny floorboards- an unfamiliar texture, since the only ground she was used to stepping on in the Sunny was grass or just regular wood.

'Everything's a little _too_ comfortable,' She muttered internally, but picked up the loose sides of her dress and kept on walking.

At the end of the hallway was a room more brightly lighted than the others, and Misaki expected it to be the dining room. She was correct, of course, as she was led into a place of grandeur and richness. There was a single table at the center of it all, gilded with gold and brimming with cuisines of all sorts on expensive looking platters. Rekatsu was sitting on one end of the table, already eating a steak and sipping some sort of golden drink.

Misaki saw one window. That was all, and it was enough information for her to know that she could escape easily, alert the Straw Hats about everything, and then find her way to Sentorappu by following Rekatsu's ship back home.

"Misaki, come sit." The Noble looked up after swallowing the current food he had in his mouth, and spoke gently. Misaki complied to his request, ignoring the chills she received just by hearing his voice. She couldn't fathom ever living with Rekatsu, although he'd made it very clear every time they met each other that those were his intentions for the future.

"You look beautiful." He said with a smile, raising a chalice filled with red liquid to his lips. "You always look beautiful, but today, your best features really stand out when you're in formal attire."

What bullshit was this boy spouting? Was he talking about her regular outfit that he was used to- a thing of rags that was formed together to resemble a makeshift dress of some sort, fit for an animal and instead, given to a human being? Did he really think that Misaki looked beautiful in something like that?

And was he used to the heavy, ugly chain around her neck? Was that something he liked on Misaki's body? It disgusted her just thinking about it.

The blue dress suddenly became more uncomfortable as the girl struggled to keep a neutral face in her chair.

She lowered her head, not even wanting to look at the boy in front of her as she sat down on a throne-like seat. One glance of his face was enough.

"We ordered those dresses from an island very far away. Velguiere, if you've ever heard of the company name," He said, chuckling. "All we had to tell them was your height, and that you had a body sculpted by the gods, and they gave perfect fitting dresses, as I can see." Rekatsu hummed, gesturing to Misaki's outfit. The girl fiddled with her dress, zoning in on its features. There were designs of white lace on it, when she focused on it, and she realized it was more complex than she'd thought it was.

"Why have you requested to eat with me?" Misaki interrogated with obvious vexation running through her voice. The boy averted his gaze from Misaki's dress and instead, looked into her eyes, narrowing his own- not in annoyance, but almost as if he was confused.

The silence was brutal and heavy.

"Oh, Misaki, you don't have to be so formal around me!" He laughed out loud after what seemed like an eternity of staring. "Save it for Father. He likes it when you're respectful around him- makes him feel better about himself."

"You still haven't answered my question, Rekatsu." Misaki pressed on.

More silence.

"...Mmm. I've made it quite obvious that I admire and desire you. Nevertheless, you're... still a slave, I guess." He mumbled indifferently. "But don't worry, that doesn't matter. Your status will change very soon."

"You can't put me in a high class. I'll just cause enough trouble to get demoted- or even better, I'll just conspire to escape again." The girl answered.

"Haha, I don't mean I'll change your rank. I- no, we, the Nobles at Sentorappu- all agree that you're not fit to be a slave."

'What does he even mean by that? What's going to change? What is he plotting? I can't see through him at all...' The blue haired girl furrowed her brow and leaned into her chair, not taking a bite of anything.

A few minutes passed by of silent eating and some scattered attempts made by Rekatsu to start some idle chat, which failed miserably. The atmosphere was awkward and, for Misaki, a waste of time. She wanted to find out what she needed to know and get out of-

"What are you doing, sitting around for? Eat." The thirteen year old looked up as she heard the slightly raised voice of the Celestial Dragon, and glanced once at his face. It was a face of concern, but concern was only a mask. Not a very good mask, she noticed. There was some other intent- some other expression- much more sinister behind Rekatsu's look of worry.

She didn't pick up her fork.

Rekatsu simply shrugged when he concluded that Misaki refused to eat, and resumed his own meal without her. He grasped a golden pitcher near him and let the liquid drizzle onto a platter of pancakes. The aroma of the liquid was so strong and fragrant that there was no mistaking it. Honey?

The syrupy concoction was all Misaki focused on, as it glided down the pancakes with such majesty and ease. It was almost like it was dancing on the dish until Rekatsu would disturb the honey by elegantly stabbing through the stack with his force and knife, placing a slice of rich, luxurious pancakes onto his main plate.

"Remember when we were kids? We talked about this the last time we saw each other, when I-"

"-When I was still a slave down at your basement, yeah I remember." Misaki cut him off.

"...Yeah. But don't you remember? You know, when I look at you now, and think of you before, you've changed so much, honestly," He broadened his smile, kind of lovingly, which creeped Misaki out a lot.

"I remember all of it. Being with you was an unforgettable experience." Misaki said emotionlessly.

"Right? It was incredible, being-" Rekatsu started, but the blue haired girl banged her fist onto the table, so hard that it shook the grapefruit jelly at the middle of the feast.

"You're such an asshole. You know exactly how I felt, when I was with you." Misaki snapped coldly. "You dismembered a man in front of me!"

"Someone else did it. It wasn't me." Reaktsu defended himself.

"You almost tricked me into believing that you were a good person, telling me all these stories about your parents and your bloodline. At the time, I couldn't comprehend the true meaning of all those stories, but I understood when I stopped seeing you,"

"Hey, my family is amazing. They're doing so much for this world, you know. You just can't see it through our perspective because you still don't understand." Rekatsu said.

"How can you defend all those things you told me about your father murdering entire islands of women and children?" The girl questioned, her voice echoing throughout the room.

The Noble slammed his fork into the table, puncturing the surface with the prongs of the utensil. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, okay?" He looked up at Misaki to make sure she was looking at him and gave her a smile. "Let's just eat."

The dark blue haired girl said nothing. She watched as Rekatsu pulled his fork out of the table, set it to the side, and continued his meal like normal.

Instead of eating, Misaki glanced from the table to the walls of the dining room, trying to evaluate how difficult it would be for her escape to be successful. During that time, the boy must have had noticed her switching her head from one direction to another, so he cleared his throat and tried for another conversation.

"Usually, the maids and butlers surrounding us would assist in cutting and serving more often." Rekatsu explained to Misaki. "But because it's our first meal together, I thought we could just gorge on the plates by ourselves,"

The navy blue haired girl already knew about the serving, of course. Every time she was called down by Hakotsu during their meal times, she often saw the maids unnecessarily serving them foods that they commanded to be delivered to them. Sure, some plates were too far away from their arms, considering the length of the dining table. But it still looked so grand- and yet, so pathetic.

"Your hair looks nice, too." The dark haired boy added, as if it would help him look like a better human being.

"Where is Bruce?" Misaki demanded, not responding to the shower of compliments Rekatsu had just showered on her. He raised his eyebrows as he drank from the cup.

"If I tell you, will you come back to Sentorappu with me? Willingly?" He questioned.

"I will never do anything that you tell me to do." Misaki banged her fist on the table, causing a nearby fork to clatter to the floor. "You and the rest of the Nobles at Sentorappu have made everyone I ever loved suffer. You're the reason for every bad thing that's ever happened in my life!"

Rekatsu pursed his lips. "Misaki, there are reasons for everything."

"Was there a reason for you to enslave millions of people?" She spat out.

"That wasn't up to me." Rekatsu replied, almost as if he was an innocent bystander in the process of it all. "Father needs slaves to build. To process goods. We keep Sentorappu going with trade and experimentation, and slaves are the root of that."

"What about the death battles?"

"Misaki, there were rewards for those things. Most of those people actually enter willingly!" He stabbed a piece of steak with his fork and pointed the juicy meat at Misaki. "You did, too."

"What about the torture?" The blue haired girl grabbed at her dress harshly. It was uncomfortable to even _breathe_ in this elegant room, and she sitting way too close to a psychopath.

"How else are we supposed to discipline them?" Rekatsu munched on his steak.

"You didn't have to. You didn't need to." Misaki mumbled. "Using methods that only a psychopath would use, and thinking of other humans like yourself as insects? That's unjustifiable."

"It _is_ , actually, justifiable." Rekatsu twirled his fork in the air, letting the remaining juice from the meat land on his plate. "Why do you think the World Government lets us go after we've openly expressed that we use slaves to manufacture our trading goods? Because in this world, life is unfair. The weak work for the stronger. Doesn't that happen to everyone? It's just, in our case, the weakest are working for the Nobles, the strongest in this caste game, and the second weakest, the second class, of course, are also working for the Nobles. And the first class? Also working for the Nobles. It's a common practice in the world, but just… slightly altered."

"That's exactly the mindset of a psychopath," Misaki declared.

"Maybe that's what you think now, but when you join us, you'll understand what we face every day, too." Rekatsu took a sip of his drink.

"Is your pain comparable to the slaves suffering under your reign?" The blue haired girl asked, tugging on the collar around her neck.

"Yes, actually, it is." The Noble answered immediately. "Misaki, you have to understand that we make connections all around the world because we were isolated from everyone. The World Government lets us pass by but refuses to have anything to do with us. The common people stay away from us because of our logical practices-"

Misaki tried to speak up but was stopped by Rekatsu's hand. "-Don't talk, I'm still saying something."

She closed her mouth slowly and her frown deepened.

"Anyway... And the rest of the Celestial Dragons? We work separately from them. We used to be connected to them... almost like a family. But our ancestors found out about the truth, and when we told them about it, they didn't believe us, which caused them to shun us from their society and leave us on Sentorappu, where we have to associate ourselves with new descendants who don't know anything... smiling through our distaste in order to befriend the people who will actually support us."

"What you're saying right now? It all makes zero sense," Misaki said. "I'm not talking about the sob story with you and the other Celestial Dragons. People would be more willing to accept your community if you weren't monsters, following a guideline that has no morale whatsoever! And even if you were suffering by a little fraction because your trading didn't go so well one day, or maybe your maid foolishly brought you the wrong type of tea, it's still incomparable to the physical and emotional pain that the slaves had to go through, regardless of class!"

"You still don't comprehend what I'm trying to say? I took you as a smarter person, Misaki." The Celestial Dragon sighed, placing his utensils onto the table and putting his hand to rub his forehead. "The reason why vermin like the slaves do all the grunt work and face consequences is because they don't have the proper body or mind to be gifted anything more luxurious. People all around the world are given things that they don't deserve, and we're just putting them in their rightful place. In cages, like the animals they are."

"What?" The girl spat out across the table. "Then, if I'm an animal, then why am I eating with you?"

"Ah! Because, Misaki, finally, you're getting to the important points!" He smiled gleefully. "You're special. You, like the Gratius Family of Sentorappu, are different!"

"What are you talking about?" Misaki inquired exasperatedly.

"Misaki, you never took up on our limitless invitations to join us as a Celestial Dragon. You foolishly missed all the opportunities that any other slave would take without a heartbeat. It explains why you have no education or common sense about how this world operates."

"Care to enlighten me, then?" The girl asked sarcastically, furrowing her eyebrows.

"The fools we invite to Sentorappu for meetings and parties- They have no idea about how powerful- how truly significant- the term, 'Celestial Dragon' is." He put his hand to his chin. "Do you even know why we have so many experiments? In the basement, and in mostly all places of the entire island?"

Misaki was silent. She didn't know why, but she knew the experiments were sinister, with no good intention whatsoever.

"It's to transform ourselves into actual Celestial Dragons- something that stuck up humans who hold this title have no interest in because they've just used it to make everyone else lacking power bow down to them and give them whatever they want... spending their money on useless, trivial things."

"Did your daddy dearest tell you that?" Misaki asked snarkily, throwing daggers at Rekatsu's eyes with her own.

"I'm only explaining to you what you wanted to know for so long," Rekatsu sighed in exasperation. "May I continue?"

Misaki only narrowed her eyes, but silenced her quiet rage. The motion made the raven haired Noble pause his meal and rummage through a container that the navy blue haired girl hadn't noticed before- one that was on the table, next to his left arm.

"Ah, wait, let me see if I have the document on the giblet…" Rekatsu pulled up a sleek, black tablet that was about half the size of his fist, touched it with two of the fingertips of his free hand, and then the object suddenly, mechanically, expanded into the size of a large book, perhaps. The middle portion of it was transparent with blue inscriptions to indicate writing, and it gave Misaki an unanticipated flashback of the time she took her class evaluation test with the pink haired girl- Charlie, that was his name. Yes, the technology in the testing room was similar to the tablet's blue glow, only the device Rekatsu was holding currently radiated a more current, efficient looking energy.

"Oh, here it is. Let me read it for you," Rekatsu said.

"W-Wait." Misaki squeezed her palm against the smooth surface and clean edge of the table. She almost forgot to ask him.

The sixteen year old boy looked up from his tablet. "What?"

"What about Bruce?"

He cocked his head in confusion, as if Bruce was a figment of Misaki's imagination and he had no clue of this person.

 _"Ohhhhh,_ the native slave." Rekatsu recalled from his memory. "That was all just a ploy to get you here. But now that we have you here, out in the ocean, you can't escape." He caught a glimpse in Misaki's eyes that he was underestimating her, and cleared his throat. "Well… you probably won't want to miss what I'm about to tell you, anyway."

He looked back down at his tablet and began to read, but before the girl could hear a word coming out from his lips, thoughts and realizations came rushing into her mind.

'So, as suspected, he's not here. Then I can escape, right?'

'Right?'

'No. I can't. What is Rekatsu talking about- I wouldn't want to miss what he's about to tell me?'

'I want to know. But I'll regret it.'

'I'll leave this ship then, and then-'

Rekatsu began with a sharp inhale, and then breathed out with the simple question, "Do you believe in gods?"

* * *

 **Edited November 30th, 2019**

 **Thanks for reading, and as always, please review!**


	13. Chapter 13: The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 13: The Truth Comes Out**

* * *

 **I dislike how I wrote this chapter but I don't know anymore 0 30**

* * *

After Luffy, Zoro, and Misaki- the trio that left the Sunny to go into the city- were taking far too long just to shop for simple ingredients and resources, Nami, Sanji, and Robin were sent to look for them, and eventually, they found Luffy and Zoro tied to a tree in the forest area of the island, they untied them and interrogated them about what exactly happened and why Misaki wasn't there with them, walking back to the ship as the captain and first mate explained to his crewmates the basic story.

"We got hit with a drug that made our muscles go limp." Zoro said.

"A drug? Do you feel anything right now?" Robin asked, and the man shook his head. "My limbs are a bit numb and my head's spinning, but that's all."

"Do you think it's gonna affect them in the future?" Nami asked Sanji in a hushed tone while she listened to Robin and Zoro converse about Luffy and his condition at the present moment. Luffy seemed to look more worn out than the latter and lacked his usually bright energy.

"I don't know, Nami-san… We'll only find out when we get to Chopper, I hope." The cook answered, also paying close attention to the marimo and raven haired boy.

"Zoro, do you know who those people are?" Luffy turned to the green haired man who sighed.

"I've never seen them before. They didn't look like Marines."

"If they were Marines, they wouldn't have left you tied to the tree." Robin concluded.

"Fair point. But I think that they want something from Misaki." Zoro said.

"Then they're Nobles." The archaeologist blurted out. Right after the outburst, she clapped her mouth shut, and everyone stopped in their tracks.

"What do you mean, Robin?" Nami asked confusedly.

"Yeah, Robin-chan, why would Nobles have anything to do with Misaki-chan?" Sanji added.

"Because Misaki was a slave." Zoro said and started the walk back to the Sunny first. He felt bad, revealing the girl's secret without telling her, and also, so suddenly without her being here to elaborate on this complicated set of events.

"Excuse me?" The navigator cocked her eyebrow. "Why would Misaki be a slave?"

"Yeah, she's a rich girl!" Usopp reminded him.

"She told me." The swordsman answered. "Well, I figured it out on my own and then I confronted her about it. She then confessed that I was right, and Robin was listening in on our conversation."

Robin looked away from Zoro's glance in discomfort, rubbing her arms.

"Well, she wanted you guys to know eventually, so you might as well know now. We have to be on the same page if we're gonna rescue her." The marimo said.

"Wait, Zoro, I'm still confused." Luffy grabbed the man's shoulder, and then he winced. The place Luffy had touched was the same place that Dorian inflicted the drug on him.

Sanji looked at the two, concerned and still in a state of shock. How strong were these two attackers if they could bind up these two monsters, was what he was thinking about. He let out a shuddering, "H-Hey, let's just take our time to go back to the Sunny, and then we can discuss the matter with everyone."

As they solemnly trudged back to the ship, merchants were beginning to close up their shops and the ground that had been decorated with the famed crystals of the island, slowly faded into a soft, somber, and much more grim looking tone. The land ceased to hold its unusually wondrous shimmer, but in comparison, the mood of the present Straw Hat pirates was all too grim.

When Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and Robin all reached the Sunny, Chopper was waiting for them with an angered expression that only made him more adorable; however, said expression disappeared from his face when he saw no sign of Misaki.

"Huh? Where's Misaki?" Chopper muttered confusedly.

"Maybe she's hiding?" Usopp suggested, but as the group got closer, their faces were easily more distinct as forlorn, rather than mischievous.

Luffy boarded the Sunny first, and then, once his feet touched the ground, he collapsed to the floor without warning.

"Uwoah!?" Usopp skittered back by the fall in shock along with the small doctor, but the latter knew better than to keep his distance and quickly rushed forward to see what was the matter with him.  
"Luffy, did you eat anything strange today!?" Chopper demanded.

"Oh, Zoro told us that they got drugged by their attackers." Robin answered for the barely-conscious captain, being the second to get on the ship.

"Drugged!?" Usopp squealed.

"Attackers!" Brook sprang out of nowhere and landed perfectly, holding his sword into the air.

"Put that away!" Nami ordered the skeleton, who complied instantly. "There are no attackers right now. But Luffy and Zoro were taken down by a few Nobles, apparently, in the island. They were drugged, but we don't know what kind."

"It's an intoxicant." The reindeer confirmed in a heartbeat, only seconds after investigating Luffy's wounds and abnormalities. "A strong one. If Luffy and Zoro were normal human beings, they would have been in terrifying condition- or dead." Chopper looked up. "They'll be fine. They just need to get the drug out of their body, which'll only take a few hours with food, water, and sleep."

"Thank goodness," Usopp sighed. "Oh, you guys, Franky's in the basement working on fixing up the Sunny. He discovered a few leaks near the connection of the piping to the crow's nest."

"That's probably because of Misaki and me." Zoro grunted. The green haired man had already gotten on the ship, as did Sanji and Nami, and was resting his body on the inner wall of the deck. He looked almost as fatigued as Luffy, but was doing considerably better.

"Probably because Luffy didn't eat." Nami deadpanned.

"Where's Misaki, by the way?" Usopp questioned, cocking his eyebrow. The fateful question finally came.

And just as the long nosed man had asked, Cara came out into the grassy deck in a T shirt dress and a towel draped over her shoulders to display that she'd just gotten out of the shower. She started rubbing her hair and joined the crowd, smiling warmly.

"Hey, guys! Where's Misaki?" The white haired woman exclaimed breathlessly with a skip in her step. The others shuffled around nervously, not saying a word. Cara's expression shifted to something a bit more predatory.

"What's going on?" She more so demanded rather than asked.

"Some people took Misaki-" Zoro began, but was interrupted by Cara's body being lunged at him.

Few ruthless hits went upon the swordsman's face before he pushed Cara off while the rest of the pirates were in clamor, not really knowing what to do or say.

"How could you!? How could you let them take her!?" The woman shrieked, being held back by Nami and Usopp, who were grabbing at her arms.

"Luffy and Zoro were drugged during their fight- you can see what happened to Luffy right now. It wasn't their fault," Robin pointed out as she gestured towards Luffy's drooped state.

"I can't believe this! I can't believe you!" Misaki pointed an accusatory finger at Zoro, who stiffened. "Misaki told me that you were strong enough to defend yourself against an army of a million men! And you were defeated by, what, _some people_!?"

"Cara! Stop this. He already told you, he was drugged!" Nami stepped in between the tension of the two alcohol lovers. She flipped her head towards Zoro. "What did they look like? You never told us, maybe Cara will know who they are."

"There were two guards and a main guy. He looked like a Noble, but he was wearing a dark cape. He has black hair slicked back, and yellow eyes?" Zoro rubbed his head. "He has an elegant voice, I remember. And he looked pretty young. He was only probably half a foot taller than Misaki."

Cara stopped her remarks and shouts and was reduced to quiet noises of sadness and hopelessness as Zoro continued with the description of the people they'd encountered. She covered her face with her hands and squeezed at the bridge of her nose, and she stopped talking.

"And there were only three people. The two guards tied us up to a tree in the forest to make sure we couldn't follow them to the docks-" Zoro went on, but was interrupted by Robin.

"-Most likely to hide what their ship looked like," said the archaeologist.

"Probably,"

Cara allowed her hands to fall to her sides. She glared at the swordsman, who flinched at her intense face, and slowly proclaimed, "Do you know who you gave Misaki to, exactly?"

"I'd like to know!" Zoro responded with the same anger, but maybe a bit more muted.

"Everyone, stop. Let's calm down and try to sort things out." Robin clapped her hands together and silenced Zoro and Cara's spat.

"But-"

"And Cara, you have yet to tell us about what's really going on. We deserve an explanation so we can help rescue Misaki." The wise archaeologist stated simply.

"Please, Cara-san. You can trust us. We must know." The skeleton encouraged with a gravelly voice.

"Yeah, what's going on? Do you have connections to the Nobles?" Sanji added on, referring to the moment Robin accidentally spilled some of the truth that she learned accidentally.

Cara tugged at her white curls in a moment of anxiety, knowing that she was going to have to say something.

"You already know, right, Zoro?" She murmured at the man she almost pummeled.

"Yeah. Well, I know the rough of the story, if that's what you mean." Zoro responded.

"Okay. You guys might as well call Franky to the deck, since I'm about to tell you the truth about me and Misaki." She sat down on the grass, fiddling her thumbs wildly.

"I heard my name!" The mechanic hooted as he jumped up from the entrance of the Sunny's basement, but faltered when he felt the dark atmosphere of the Straw Hat pirates. "Okay, I guess I'll just sit down, then…"

"Misaki and I are slaves." Cara began. "Well, we _were_ slaves. Misaki was one since she was- I think, about maybe four, or five- and I became one when I was ten."

"Four?" Chopper repeated weakly.

"She was born a slave, but she wasn't treated like one until that age." Cara corrected her previous words. "I heard from a few people that she was nursed for a while."

"But why? Why would the Celestial Dragons kidnap an infant?" Usopp questioned.

Cara scratched her head. "I wondered about that too, for a while. But when I was in the children's sector with Misaki, I noticed that she was treated differently than the other slaves. She was allowed to walk around and she wasn't forced to do as much work, like the rest of the slaves. She was never branded. When she did things that were punishable by torture, she got away most of the time. There was one time that she broke into the main library of the place, and she returned, unscathed." The woman, in her head, remembered that moment as if it was a memory that occurred yesterday.

 _Cara was thirteen, at that time, and was locked in her cage, holding her scared brother's hand while trembling herself. The two siblings, along with the thousands of children slaves, were being held in their usual "bedroom," which was basically a large hall composed of cement walls and cameras all over the corners of the room, and thousands of cages, which were the beds for the children. The room was dark, as it was about a few hours before midnight, and the only light was with the guards of the room, stationed at the exits, with flashlights that shined through the blackness of the gigantic room._

 _This usually never happened. At this time, the children would have been working, but instead, they were being locked up, as if this was an early bedtime. But no slave took this notion as a possibility and were afraid for their own lives, thinking that in this room, they were all about to get slaughtered._

 _The white haired girl, while still holding Bruce's hand, courageously asked the guard in the room, "W-What's happening!?"_

" _Someone escaped. We're putting you all on lockdown to make sure nothing suspicious is going on."_

 _Cara whipped her head around, not yelling out, since she could get into trouble for speaking in a loud voice, but quietly hissing Misaki's name. Misaki would usually be in a cage next to her own, since, even though it was a primitive practice, the guards still let the children pick where they wanted to sleep. Out of sympathy? Pity? Or was it just simply to make the children believe that this was a privilege that they specially received- as if choosing a dirty, cold, animal cage was a privilege. Nevertheless, Misaki, Bruce, and Cara stuck together so they always had each other in moments of pain or anxiety._

 _Anyway, back to the memory- Cara couldn't see Misaki's blue head poking out of any of the cages, and the amount of children in small metal crates was too much of a vision for her to look at that it almost drove her crazy. The girl let go of her brother's hand and leaned on the bars of her cell for a moment._

" _Are you okay, Cara?" Bruce asked in a hushed tone. His sister only nodded and gave him a small smile as an effort to comfort him. Her hands were shaking, and she didn't know if she was ever gonna see Misaki again. Not being where you were supposed to be, as a child slave, was punishable by death._

 _The doors to the dark room were opened, and the sudden exposure of warm light made the children most near it gasp and flinch. The guards banged on the nearest cell they could find to shut them up, and the noises subsided._

" _Get in there," The gruff, male voice echoed through the walls of the large room. A small girl was pushed into the room, and Cara could see her fall to the floor._

" _Misaki!" Cara screamed in delight and relief. The guard near her cage sent a chilling glare to the slave, but she ignored it, keeping an eye on the stumbling child, followed by a guard, to find an empty cage._

" _Next time you leave the group, you get hurt." The guard following the girl assumed to be Misaki leaned into the child's face with his threatening demeanor and shut the cell door with a loud clatter, locking it up with a key glowing blue._

 _A few moments after, the children were all released from their cages and were sent back to work. Cara found Misaki and rushed to her, Bruce walking slowly behind her. The girl noticed the siblings and rushed to them in tears._

" _Cara-" She began bawling._

" _What did you do? Where did you go?" Cara held Misaki's head tightly._

" _I-I just went to the library-"_

" _You did_ what _!? Did they hurt you!?"_

" _No, not really. They just sent me back. Hakotsu found me first, but he just called a guard over." Misaki explained. "I wanted to find a book-"_

" _Wait. They didn't do anything to you?" Cara pulled back from their embrace and placed both her hands on Misaki's respective shoulders._

" _N_ - _Nothing?" Bruce murmured like an echo._

" _Yeah." Misaki said._

" _Misaki, people have died going to places like that. We're slaves. We can't go anywhere, unless we're told to." The white haired girl reprimanded her, as if she didn't know all this in the first place. "Remember Marcus? He stole a piece of bread from a guard and got beaten to death!" She shook the younger girl by the shoulders. :You were_ there _, Misaki. You saw it happen. How could you_ think _of even trying to borrow something a hundred times more valuable than bread!?"_

" _But nothing happened to me!" Misaki protested while gripping the fabric of Cara's dress tightly. Her eyes were dry at this point._

 _The white haired girl stopped shaking her, and let her shoulders go. Misaki crawled backwards a little to avoid getting shaken up again, and smoothed out her dress._

' _Nothing happened to her,' Cara wondered. 'But why?'_

Cara's monologue faded out and she shook her head back into the present time.

"So, you're telling me that she wasn't harmed?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, no, she was hurt. A lot." Cara said. "Didn't you guys see her wounds when you first rescued her?"

Chopper recalled back to the injuries that Misaki came with and shuddered.

"She just wasn't as affected as other children. When a child slave at birth goes into the adult sector, they're separated into different groups in Sentorappu Island. It's based on your class and everything that you do."

"Class?" Zoro perked up. "What do you mean by 'class?'"

"Sentorappu has class systems for all slaves. Depending on you as a person- all factors counted- you're put into different classes. There's high class, middle class, and low class." Cara breathed in. "High class is where you have the highest chance of getting rid of your identity as a slave, and rather, into a consort, or a wife. You get put into that class if you get chosen for a certain test and pass it. Misaki told me all about it after she got chosen herself."

"And what did she get?" Usopp asked with a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes.

"You're not going to believe this- she got a perfect score. That's what she told me. But the other slave that was tested with her got a low score and was forced to move down from her original class- middle class- to low class, and Misaki switched places with her to remain in low class."

"A perfect score!?" The long nosed sniper screeched.

"Are you serious?" Nami was shocked. "Why would she do that?"

"I thought that too. But she's just like that. Like the time when she-" Cara hesitated. "I'll tell you about that later. Anyway, middle class was where you'd become cannon fodder for the Celestial Dragons, and guards, and stuff like that. You were treated better in middle class if you were a child, but most adults in middle class usually die off quickly." She paused. "My brother knew about this because Misaki told him, so when he was chosen to take the test as a kid, he failed on purpose."

"But isn't it better than being in low class?" Robin asked confusedly.

"He'd rather stick with me and Misaki." She said, a bit of poison in her words. "Not that it matters, anyway. For all I know, he could be dead, as of now."

The ship was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"Low class was where I was in, along with Bruce- that's my brother's name- and Misaki. We were forced to work every day. Kids would die because of exhaustion and disease so frequently, that guards would start using wheelbarrows to lug the corpses out into a pit."

Nami recoiled at the statement and Chopper's face trembled.

"It's inhuman. But you guys asked for the story. And that's the reality that's going on." Cara said, her face expressionless. She turned to the captain of the ship, who Chopper was tending to little by little on the floor of the Sunny. "I hope Luffy's listening, because I'm not repeating all of this again. It hurts too much."

"I ammm…." Luffy moaned in pain and tiredness. "I'mmmph, I'm… Sorryyy."

"Wait, I'm sorry," Sanji interjected before Cara continue on with her story. "Why the hell is _this_ moron," He landed a soft kick to Luffy's leg, "...still knocked out, and _that_ moron," He pointed to Zoro, "...is completely fine?"

"I'm assuming it's because Luffy's the captain, and the attackers most likely expected a much lengthier gap in strength and power between the two, so they fed Luffy a much higher dose of the drug than Zoro," Robin raised her hand as if she was in a class for crime investigation. She glanced at Cara, who held a surprised look to her face, and smiled. "I was a traitor before I was a pirate, and I know a lot about collecting information and how to overpower your enemies with tactic alone."

"You're absolutely right," The former slave murmured. "Sentorappu and their advisors. The people on the island make up one of the smartest groups in the world, possibly. They can track down any person, if anyone ever escapes their island, and that's how they defeated Luffy and Zoro so easily, along with taking Misaki away." She faced Robin and gave her a small smile. "I think you'd be a worthy adversary against them,"

"Next to me, Robin is probably one of the most intelligent people in the Grand Line."

Nami added. "Hell, I'm pretty sure the two of us are the only people in the crew who can divide long numbers."

"I take offense to that!" Chopper hopped up.

"Same! I'm a freaking mechanic, Nami-sis. _C'mon_!" Franky used an exasperated tone when he spoke, but as he glanced at the white haired woman's dark expression, he stopped joking around and apologized quietly, along with signaling her to continue her story.

Cara only let out a heavy breath and continued. "Misaki and I were separated when I became old enough. My brother and I were branched off into prostitution, instead of labor, which was surprising to us, since most low class adult slaves were forced to do the latter. We were made to sell our bodies every day, but we were also in pain mentally. Bruce had meltdowns almost every day because of all the physical exertion he was put on, and we'd have to participate in things that we definitely didn't want to be part of. Not a day passed where we weren't scarred in one way or another." She looked down to the floor. "Not a single day."

No one made a single sound.

Cara cleared her throat after what seemed to be the longest break of silence the Straw Hats experienced since the beginning of the story. "Misaki was left behind in the children's sector, and began to take initiative, defending smaller children when they were being bullied by other slaves and trying to coax torturers to let go of kids when they made small mistakes during their work. She, along with another annoying kid named Rex, were considered to be the parents of the low class children's sector, and tried her best to keep everyone safe. But obviously, kids kept getting sick and the wheelbarrow was consistently needed. We saw each other less frequently, and on the night of our escape, I took one look at her face. She looked like she was ready to crack. Break down. She was desperately grasping onto the hands of the children next to her. She was losing all hope. We took along Aika, a child next to Misaki, when we tried to leave. But since she was such a young child, she died while we were on our escape ship. She had Burheir's Disease."

"Burheir's? I know about that." The reindeer cocked his head. "Symptoms are supposed to show weeks before death. Did nobody notice?"

"Everyone in the children's sector is halfway to death's door, anyway. No one could tell the difference between her and a kid that would last for another year. She would have just been another unnamed addition to the _thousands_ of corpses," Cara spat out.

"H-How did you escape?" Nami asked.

The white haired woman tilted her head, looking down. "Bruce managed to talk to one of his clients about his situation and she pitied him, giving him some information about ship schedules that entered and left Sentorappu. She proceeded to hand him some money that he smuggled through his pants until the destined date of our escape. I found a map of the entire building of Sentorappu and the closest exit to the docks, and also knocked out the guards and found out that if you snap your tracker off before it blows up, it'll stop working- when I say trackers, I mean the collars around the slaves that you see with the red circle on the middle. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Yes, Cara-san. We've seen them before," Brook said gloomily.

"And together, Bruce and I, after most of the Nobles and guards went to sleep, paid a guard to disable the security system for just a little while- maybe five minutes at the most- knocked out the guards in the way, found Misaki, and then ran to the escape ship with her and Aika. We barely made it, and in the morning, Aika passed away. A few days after, a storm hit the ship and we all got separated. Misaki found me in Mister Weapons, and we've been trying to look for Bruce with her new powers, but nothing came up during our attempts." Cara breathed out shakily. "There's more to our story, but that's all you need to know, essentially, for now. Please, I beg you. Let's try to get to Misaki now."

The Straw Hat pirates looked at each other, exchanging glances at the sight of the woman before them.

"We were gonna look for her regardless of what you wanted." Robin said expressionlessly. "We consider Misaki a wonderful person, and even after listening to your story, we don't have a different vision of either of you."

It was as if the archaeologist read Cara's mind when she spoke. The former slave believed that the Straw Hat pirates would want to have nothing to do with Cara and Misaki after she revealed the truth behind their scars, but they were as normal about things as ever.

"You can trust us to find Misaki-sis," Franky stated. "We'll help you guys out until you feel super again!"

Then all of a sudden, Luffy jumped up in a posture that showed that he was back to normal.

"Luffy!" Nami gasped. "You're alright!"

"Well, I mean it was only a matter of time." Zoro muttered, putting a hand to his cheek. "If he was out for a second longer, I would have been disappointed in him."

"Yosh. Let's go find Misaki!" He hooted, and the rest of the Straw Hats cheered.

(and then everyone clapped)

* * *

 **Please review!**


	14. Chapter 14: Fated To Fight

**Chapter 14: Fated To Fight**

* * *

 **ooffff it's been a hot minute**

 **RECAP: Misaki's a slave from Sentorappu Island and escapes, meets the Straw Hats, and starts gaining powers with the boost of a devil fruit and the lack of restraint on her mind and body. She is with the SHP for a month, training under Zoro, until she runs into a Noble from Sentorappu and is kidnapped.**

 **Enjoy this raw ass chapter.**

* * *

Not a day and a half had passed before Misaki had returned.

A quick recap: Cara confessed to all the Straw Hat pirates about Misaki and her past and where exactly they came from, and they told her that they would help her rescue Misaki from the Nobles that took her. Zoro had explained to Cara who exactly kidnapped Misaki in detail, and Cara knew who to look for, but where to start searching was another problem.

"Does anyone in this crew have tracking abilities of any sort?" Cara asked, her hands and legs sprawled and standing in a weird position. The woman was in a frenzy and didn't know what to do or where to start.

"No…" Usopp muttered, leaning as far away as possible from the deranged woman while grabbing onto a sandwich with both hands. "Hey, Cara, maybe you should… you know, calm down and get off the table?"

Cara hopped off the dining table as Sanji had cried over the centerpiece meatloaf she'd stepped in when she was making her mini announcement. She put a hand to her forehead in frustration and sat in an empty seat.

"We're never gonna find Misaki," She mumbled hopelessly. Robin patted her shoulder and sighed. "We're going to find her. Franky's using all his fuel for his Coup de Bursts to travel faster, and Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are always on the lookout for any traces of Misaki."

"Lookout…?" Cara turned her head and viewed a pathetic mural image of Luffy scarfing down the meatloaf she'd just stepped in, Zoro sleeping while chewing on his sandwich and mumbling random things white snoring, and Sanji chopping vegetables, not likely to be searching for a certain girl in danger.

"None of them are doing _anything_!" The white haired woman moaned and dramatically threw her head into her arms.

"Cara-chan, I'm trying to search for Misaki. You don't have to worry, but you also have to realize that this is the maximum that we can do right now." Sanji stopped chopping momentarily and explained to the woman who was kind of being unreasonable towards the rest of the crew.

"I… I know. I'm sorry for all this. I-It's just that I'm so worried about Misaki and all," She replied to the cook, who only hummed in response.

"I'm sure Misaki's just fine. All she's been doing the moment she got on the Sunny was train. She's strong enough to fend for herself," Nami offered Cara a weak smile and tried to cheer her up by passing her a sandwich. "Try eating for now, and we'll get back to the escape plan after lunch."

"I… can't. I'm sorry. I'm gonna go outside and look for her." The nineteen year old refused the orange haired woman's offer and stood from her chair abruptly, walking out of the room.

"Cara, it's not like she's gonna appear out of nowhere," Zoro had woken up and most likely listened into the conversation. "I'm keeping my ear to any slight sounds, which means that any ships that pass by us won't get unnoticed. There's no point in you going outside. Just stay inside, and be reasonable."

"Misaki is my best friend!" The white haired woman whipped her head to face the rest of the crew. "She saved me from Mister Weapons, and she's the most compassionate, kind, sacrificing person I know. You guys are a great help right now, and I can't express my gratitude enough, but I don't think what we, as a whole, are _doing_ enough to prevent something bad from happening!"

In an instant, the woman opened the door from the room, walked out into the afternoon sun, and slammed the door shut.

Cara stood outside the door of the kitchen she so rudely closed on the Straw Hat pirates' faces, and contemplated going back in to apologize. But there was no point. She wanted- no, she needed- to find Misaki as fast as possible. Who knew what the younger girl was going through? The woman knew that the Nobles of Sentorappu were insane and sadistic people, and she was terrified of what they would do to Misaki, someone who'd already escaped the clutches of the horrible place once and definitely didn't need to go through the suffering once more.

Cara decided, after a few moments of listening to the silence of the kitchen (besides a few inaudible whispers), to walk up the ladder into the guest room and open up one of the windows to sit on the sills. It would help her be on the lookout and see everything that she possibly needed to see.

The woman followed through her plan and took a seat on the windowsill. As she looked out into the horizon of the sea, she got more nervous and nervous with each second that passed. She started feeling her legs accumulating more sweat and was gaining the tendency to bite her fingernails, something that she never did and was only starting the habit in the present.

After an hour of looking at the deep blue sea, Cara's eyes needed to adjust to something not-blue and looked away to the wooded portions of the guest room.

'What's the harm of staying in the room for maybe five minutes…?' Cara thought as she climbed back into the guest room and flew into the futon that was in the dead center of the room. Misaki and Cara used the donut room (that was what Luffy ordered everyone aboard the Sunny to call the room) religiously.

Actually, one day, asked Franky for yellow and purple paint (a weird color combination, Franky commented) and painted the walls with little decorations. Misaki drew decorations like beautiful floral-type suns that you would see in the movie Tangled spread throughout, and Cara, being the incredible artist she was, drew a few penises (at first, she drew a whole lot, and then Misaki painted over them with more suns [imagine the sun designs from Tangled]), and then decided to add stars and planets to match the suns. After the paint job, the place looked a lot more beautiful and homey. The blue haired girl and the white haired woman then added a few throw pillows everywhere and installed shelves onto some random areas of the room with wooden pieces from the basement of the Sunny.

The two would sleep there every day, and every day, they'd snuggle up into their futon and share stories about each other to make up for the time that they missed when Cara was in the adult sector and Misaki in the children's sector. Misaki still hadn't smiled once during their small conversations, and even when Cara thought she'd told the latter a really hilarious story, there was silence, or a witty comeback with a passionless expression on her face.

'So she still doesn't know how to smile,' Cara thought, her hands sliding across the smooth floors of the donut room. 'I thought… that maybe, once she was free from Sentorappu Island, that she would finally learn to be happy. And she looked so joyful when she was with Zoro, or literally anyone else… but she's still… not.'

"Hey, you wanna come back down to finish eating?" Zoro poked his head through the open door of the Sunny's kitchen, pointing to the inside of the room. "We saved some food for you." The white haired woman looked out the open window she sat on a few moments ago.

"...No, I'm not hungry. Sorry… but thanks anyways." Cara shrugged, turning her back so he wouldn't see the pained expression on her face.

"...Okay, I get it. Come down when you feel like it." Zoro answered indifferently.

Suddenly, a loud sound that was similar to a splash of water, followed by a shriek, was heard from the outside, and Cara flinched, instantly moving into a defensive position.

"What's going on!?" She called out without budging from her place. Zoro ran down, and he didn't come back up or make a single sound that indicated that he was alive. It was probably just Cara being paranoid, but she couldn't help but be freaked out.

When no one answered the woman's previous question, possibly because of the commotion outside, she decided to rush out in order to find out for herself. Opening the door to the donut room and then jumping out, Cara landed on her feet and looked back up.

All of the Straw Hat pirates were staring in the same direction- the direction of the water. Cara glanced their way and immediately froze up, unable to move a single finger in the amount of shock she was in.

There was a wide geyser of water shaped like a tube, spilling out from the ocean and reaching all the way to the sky.

Misaki was standing on the water, in the middle of that geyser. She was inside of the geyser, her face turned away from the Sunny.

"Misaki!" Nami shrieked, holding her hand out, hoping the younger girl would take it.

The navy blue haired girl took one look at the navigator of the ship and flicked her hand. The geyser dispersed explosively, water particles scattering across the air and back into the ocean, and when it did, many of the pirates on board flinched at the impact while getting hit by a bit of water, too. She continued to stand on the water and walked closer to the Sunny.

"Hello, everyone." Misaki finally stated. "Has anything changed since I was last on the Sunny?"

"Misaki, don't worry about that! What happened!?" Nami responded quickly, shaking her head feverently. "We were all so worried, and we were thinking of ways to look out for you."

"I see," The girl hummed, but there was no emotion behind her voice. "Technically speaking, you never would have found me."

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked, stepping closer to the rails of the deck and nearer to Misaki.

"Think about it. How could you track me down? Do you have a map of the world? Is your log pose reliable in telling you your exact location?"

"...Well, no, but-" Nami sputtered out after a second of hesitance that didn't go unnoticed by Misaki.

"- But what? You thought that Luffy and Zoro would be able to find me with their instincts? You all knew in your hearts that you weren't really going to look for me, after you realized that all I brought with me were threats."

"That's not true, Misaki!" Chopper yelled with his high pitched voice. "We were desperately thinking of how to find you. Everyone was agitated to the core when we heard that you were missing, and we didn't know what to do for a while." He sniffed. "But we were really trying, Misaki… Please believe us!"

"Look," Zoro walked up closer to the girl walking on water. "We let you down and couldn't help you when you were taken from us by those bastards. But don't think for a second that we weren't worried."

"Wow, that's fresh, coming from someone like you, who didn't want to risk saving my life because you were worried that while on the verge of death, I would hurt your friends," Misaki referenced to the first time she landed into the Straw Hat crew's hands and Zoro tried to prevent the others from sacrificing for the dying stranger, at the time, who was the blue haired girl.

"That was when I didn't know you! You can't say that, I actually know you now! We're friends, aren't we?" The green haired man thundered indignantly.

"Friends?" Misaki scoffed without a smile. "Zoro, I'd say we were never friends. We're never going to be friends, either."

"Misaki, you're acting strange. You have to tell us what happened, or what we did wrong!" Nami yelled.

"Misaki!"

The blue haired girl looked up from her dark expression which was staring at the water beneath her feet. She saw Cara, running towards her in delight.

"Cara!" Misaki's eyes widened, as if she was surprised to see her. But then, she shook her head as if she were snapping herself out of it and back to reality, and she summoned a wave of water to pull the white haired woman violently to the edge of the ship. "We have to go. Now."

"Woah!" Cara exclaimed as she was dragged by the curtain of ocean.

"What the hell…?" Usopp stepped back when it happened. "I don't remember a power like this."

"Me neither," Sanji added mutely.

"Misaki, what's wrong with you? You're acting robotic," Cara said, laughing away the serious situation and trying to brush off the waves that were curled around her.

"Cara, I know how to get to Sentorappu Island now."

Cara's face drained of all color. "W-What?"

"For the whole time, we were searching for Bruce, but he might be on land. So that's why I couldn't track him down." She let out a long sigh. "We wasted a lot of time because of that one crucial mistake. The thing was, my powers can find mostly anything, which was why I was able to get to the Sunny, But if I were to locate an entire island, one that's grounded into the sea…" Misaki's eyes had a fire in them. Something uncontrollable, burning with anxiety and impatience. "It was so much easier, especially since Sentorappu's a pretty big piece of land. Finally, I found it. It's only two hours away."

"Umm… Hello?" Nami waved her hand to attract the attention of the two who were conversing about Sentorappu Island. "Stop ignoring us, Misaki. You're not going back there. At least, not without us."

The blue haired girl looked as if she was taken aback at what Nami had said. She slowly turned to stare at Cara with a confused expression, and then looked back at the Sunny.

"I appreciate everything that you've done for me, Nami. And everyone else on this crew." Misaki flashed a solemn look towards Zoro. "But I analyzed the physical strength of all of you and it's just not enough to withstand the power of Sentorappu. Their technology is one hundred times more advanced than the Sunny and the brutality of their army is just too much force to take on." Misaki continued after breathing in, "I don't want to cause any more trouble for you. I don't wish for anything bad to happen to any of you, and you guys shouldn't even be messing with Celestial Dragons. Also, I've seen your faces on bounty posters and you all get chased around because of the price on your heads, but haven't you had the tugging feeling that this past month, a lot more people have been going after you?"

The Straw Hat pirates exchanged glances with each other, unsettled.

"That's all my fault." Misaki clasped her hand upon her chest. "I was the one who dragged unwanted attention on you all, and I deeply apologize for that. I owe the world to you all, and I wouldn't be as strong as I am now if it weren't for you, but at this point, I'm wasting time. I have to bring justice to the Celestial Dragons of Sentorappu Island and free the slaves before it's too late, and the people there start killing them."

"And we'll help you!" Luffy stomped his foot on the ground with a smile on his face.

Misaki glared at the captain of the ship. "You think that this is another one of your victory rounds where you get to beat up a few bad guys and go home with treasure and a higher status in the pirating world? This is a lot more than that. My friends' lives are on the line, and if I come in with a bunch of happy-go-lucky pirates that cause a commotion wherever they go, I'll end up losing a lot of them!"

Luffy's smile vanished and Zoro stood up against the navy blue haired girl, who had elevated herself to a higher point in the air with the water table she was standing on. Cara had been released from her water squeeze onto the same surface as Misaki and was sitting down nonchalantly, listening to Misaki with unreadable eyes.

"Hey. You don't seem very grateful towards us with that tone, do you?" Zoro asked. Something had snapped in him, as if he forgot his friendship with the girl and was now turning to his captain, following through with his promise to Luffy [see note below].

"I'm merely rejecting your assistance." Misaki spat out.

"Then I guess we no longer need each other anymore, correct?" Zoro asked, clenching his fist and throwing towards Misaki her swords.

She didn't catch them. Instead, she simply flicked her hand upwards and a wave blockaded the katana from hitting Misaki. The two swords slid from the obstacle all the way into the ocean, only to be caught by a wave, brought back to Misaki's water table, and dropped onto the surface.

"I guess so." She muttered without expression. "Turn back before you get hurt."

"What's up with Misaki? It feels like she gained a lot more power than before," Chopper whispered to Usopp, who didn't bother to even look at the former due to his occupation of keeping his eyes glued to the girl on the ocean.

"You're right. She's changed." He mumbled. "Maybe not for the better."

"Misaki. What are you doing? What do you plan to do once we get there!?" Cara tugged at the girl's shirt. "I mean, I'm so, so glad that you're safe. But we're going to die if we return!"  
"So? What if we die?" Misaki asked. "If something bad happens, we'll die knowing that we did the right thing- turn back to save our friends."

The older woman didn't return Misaki's sentimental answer with an excited cheer or a hyped agreement. Instead, she seemed small, smaller than before. Her stance was hunched and she had fear in her eyes.

"What? Don't you want to save them?" The blue haired girl asked, as if she knew her friend's response already.

Cara looked down at the clear surface she was sitting on. She twiddled her fingers. "...I think… I think we should stay with the Straw Hat Pirates."

Misaki looked back at the older woman. "What?"

"We shouldn't go back to Sentorappu."

The navy blue haired girl was in shock. "What the hell are you saying!? Cara, you promised me. You promised that once we got up on our feet, once we were all fine, we'd bring hell to this place and rescue all the other slaves!"

"We can't! We can't do that, Misaki, you have to come to terms that you can't save everyone!"

Misaki grabbed Cara's shoulders in a moment of rage, her grip tightening on the woman's flesh as if she were holding onto the last string of her life. But when Cara showed a sign of pain, she immediately loosened up in shock, but kept her hands on the latter.

"Listen, Cara. We're the only people to have ever escaped from Sentorappu. That means we have that chance of letting everyone else out. We've been the only people in decades to have left that hell. But guess what? Even now, more and more innocent people are dying." The girl said slowly, enunciating every word. "We have to go back there. Even if it means burning our bodies down along with the whole place, we have to. It's for all the lives we'll be able to say, and all the future pain we can help avoid."

"Oh, stop it!" Cara snapped, slapping Misaki's hands away from her and standing up. She pushed Misaki to the ground, and the younger girl fell onto the water table. "Stop acting like this! Everyone in the whole damn world's suffering, and it's not like you're going to save _them_ , too!"

"Cara-" Misaki tried to calm the woman down, but her attempt was fruitless.

"You're pushing this burden onto my shoulders, but Misaki, did you ever think about how I felt! I just wanted to live a normal life for once! I didn't want you to barge in after I rescued you and bring me back into this fucking mess!"

"I didn't ask _you_ to save me, either!" Misaki stood back up in vexation, her eyes puncturing Cara's own.

"Shut up and act more your age! Why are you so reluctant to let go of that place, Misaki!? It was hell for all of us, but now you're seeing paradise here!" Cara spat back.

"No, Cara, _you_ need to act more your age. You have no awareness of the people around you, either, and you don't understand what suffering they're going through, too. I can't just let go of a place that I was exposed to for my whole life, and I won't. _Ever_."

"But now, aren't you happy that you're not stuck in that place?"

Misaki's eyes widened fanatically, like she was shocked by what she'd just heard. "No! Not one bit! In fact, for all the good times I experience during the day, I receive back tenfold during the night. I can hear the screams of my friends in that basement in my dreams, and I can't stop thinking about the voices of those torturers! In my nightmares, all I see are memories of Sentorappu, and every day, I'm more and more afraid to fall asleep!" Misaki screamed out. "No, I'm not happy, Cara! Because I'm free, and all the other kids I abandoned-"

"-You didn't _abandon_ them-"

"-They're _dying_." The blue haired girl fell onto her knees. "Because I escaped, they might be getting killed this instant- boiled in hot water, or pierced with steel needles. Maybe worse-"

"If we go back there, we'll end up _just like them_ , Misaki! Listen to yourself- you going back to Sentorappu might even make things worse! It's suicide for you and the people there will just get their fates given to them in the same exact way, even if you don't show up." Cara shuddered, unable to conjure any image of what might happen if Misaki would return to Sentorappu Island and its Celestial Dragons. "Stay here." She breathed out, calming herself and lowering her tone. "Here, you're safe. I'll protect you."

Misaki's lower lip quivered and her eyes watered. "After all that you've been through, Cara, I only hoped that you could hold enough room for the pain of other people." She glared at her. "But in the end, you have no humanity left inside of you. You _can't_ protect me. You know why? Because you have nothing that can protect _anyone_. Not yourself, not me, not Bruce."

In a moment of pure indignation and madness, Cara stepped closer to the thirteen year old, stopped to look down at her, and then, she slapped her.

"What I have left inside of me is common sense. Go by yourself. I'm not following you into this… this suicide mission."

The pain was left there like a mark singed onto the flesh, and Misaki grabbed her cheek, only able to remember the suffering she'd felt in the past. She whipped her face back up to Cara with a heavy stare. The blue haired girl took off one of her hands from the injury she'd received seconds ago to flick it upwards, and the portion of the geyser Cara was standing on disappeared- turned into tiny water molecules that fled back into the sea because of gravity- causing the white haired woman to fall down all the way into the ocean with those molecules.

The Sunny hadn't moved from its position. The Straw Hat pirates had witnessed it all, not wanting to miss a single detail on what the hell was going on, but as Misaki and Cara continued their conversation, they were just dragged in by the almost tangible agony in their voices as they spoke to each other, and the only thing that could finally snap them out of their stupor was the loud splashing sound of Cara's flailing body crashing into the ocean.

"Cara!" Some of the Straw Hats called out simultaneously, pulling their heads downwards to look over the railing of the ship. The woman's head and arms were bobbing up from the surface of the water as she shrieked in anger at what just happened to her. Luffy used his rubber arms to pull her up to the Sunny, but he had forgotten his weakness to water, which in turn made him fall into the sea, as well. Sanji rolled his eyes and stepped off the railing of the Sunny to retrieve both people who were sinking in the sea, and hadn't surfaced yet.

"I have to-" Misaki couldn't even finish her sentence before Zoro had launched himself into the air and took out his sword to slice through the water table she was standing on. The surface the girl was standing on returned to the ocean faster than the blink of an eye and Misaki, too, was falling to the sea. She waved her hand upwards in mid-air and summoned a wave-shaped surface of water to catch her from below.

She snapped her fingers before she touched the new hill of water, and thick strings of the ocean surrounding that creation flung itself onto Zoro, attempting to encase him in ocean. He cut through them before they could get to him, however, and he continued to pursue Misaki, as she now stood on the surface she made previously.

Zoro slid the blade of his katana across the side of Misaki's stomach, and a clean gash of fresh blood appeared.

"It won't kill you, but it'll damn sure keep you from doing any more of your tricks again." The swordsman snarled, stepping onto the surface Misaki had collapsed on. "You're such a child, thinking you're the hero of your own story. You're weak, and you won't be in Sentorappu for two seconds before your throat is slit."

Misaki grabbed at her side and turned her body into water, then returning back to her original state to reveal no injury.

"If it takes me two seconds to die, I'll use two seconds to kill the Nobles and set everyone free," The blue haired girl spat out, sitting back up and swinging her entire arm towards Zoro. He fell into the water and was stunned for a second, but resurfaced quickly. Cara and Luffy had also resurfaced. But by the time the two were on the deck, Misaki had disappeared.

"She went underwater," Robin muttered, the only person who kept her eyes on the young girl for the entire time as the others were either tending to Cara or still ensnared by the dialogue by the fierce argument of the two former slaves.

Luffy, recovered completely from spending some time in the ocean, grabbed at Zoro's marimo head and pulled him into the Sunny. He jumped back onto the deck of the ship and looked out to the horizon.

"She left us," Usopp stated blandly.

"I'm gonna go get her," Zoro announced as he stepped onto the edge of the Sunny, but he was stopped by Robin's phantom hands which had bloomed on the railing close to his feet.

"You're gonna jump in again?" Nami folded her hands across her chest.

"Yeah! Don't you stop me now-"

"No, don't." The archaeologist said. "We have to follow her."

"What? Why!?" The swordsman demanded.

"Robin-chan's right, shitty swordsman." Sanji blew a puff of his cigarette. "If we get her now, she's just going to try and escape from us and make sure that we won't be able to follow her at all. We have to be able to follow her in order to save her life."

"It's not like she's totally incapable, though…" Usopp murmured. "Her powers, in such a short period of time- literally like half of a day- increased considerably."

"Yeah, but we don't even know what the opposing side can do to her," Sanji combated with Usopp's unwillingness to head into a dangerous place. "Usopp, we have to go there. Misaki-chan might not live to see next week if we don't, based on what Cara-chan tells us about Sentorappu Island."

"But do we _reeaaally_ have to go?" Usopp squeaked weakly.

"She probably travelled far already, thanks to her powers." Franky concluded, ignoring his friend. "So we have to hurry, too. Usopp and Sanji, you guys go to the basement and start driving the mini submarines."

"Why me!?" came a cry from the long nosed man.

Cara spit out some salt water she'd accidentally swallowed during her time in the ocean and looked up at the pirates surrounding her, more perplexed than ever. "What the fuck are you guys trying right now?"

"We're going to follow her. Weren't you listening?" Luffy stated in an as-a-matter-of-fact way as he brushed his wet arm off of the water onto the grass of the ship's deck.

"Wait!" She stood up defiantly. "Why are you all so stubborn!? And ignorant? There's a reason why Misaki didn't want you guys to come with her, and it's because it's dangerous! You're all going to die!"

"So?" Luffy asked emotionlessly. "Would you leave your friends alone to fight all by themselves when you could be helping them?"

Cara stiffened and couldn't think of anything else to fire back at the rubber man.

"Don't try to sway her mind, Luffy." Franky muttered. "Cara's already set on saving her own skin before anyone else's."

"Zoro, are you tracking her down with your Haki?" Luffy directed his eyes to Zoro, who was already walking towards the steering and navigating portion of the ship.

"Yeah, I know where she is right now. We have to get the Sunny moving as soon as possible or else I'll lose track of her- she's getting farther and farther away from us by the second." The green haired man answered explicitly.

"Franky, we have enough resources and all, right?" Nami checked with the blue haired cyborg.

"It's super!" Franky returned the question with a cheeky smile and a thumbs up.

"Are you sure we have enough fuel?" Luffy added cautiously. "We don't even know how far away this Sentorappu Island is,"

"Nah, we probably have enough," Nami responded instead of the shipwright. "Misaki came to us pretty quickly, even after being kidnapped. That means that the ship of those guys is close by, which also means that the island can't be far behind, either. We just need a bit of Franky's cola to get us through this journey."

"You know what to do when we get there, right?" Franky stated, pumping his fist.

Chopper popped up and timidly padded close to Cara. "We'll find and get Misaki, first of all,"

"Then, we'll help her save her friends," Luffy continued, smiling broadly.

"Finally, we wreak havoc on Sentorappu Island, I'm assuming," Brook completed as he held up his bony pointer finger.

"That's a good plan, I like that plan," The straw hatted captain shook his head up and down in approval. Using his rubber body, he launched himself up into the air and strung his elongated arms onto the top of the crow's nest, the highest point of the Sunny. "Let's go get Misaki, then!" He yelled loudly, causing his crewmates to cheer in retaliation.

"Why would you do this all for Misaki?" Cara asked to no one in particular. "Why would you go so far?" The white haired woman was probably still confused as to why the Straw Hat crew was willing to risk their lives once again for Misaki, even after they had their own taste of Sentorappu thanks to the guards accompanying Rekatsu who attacked Luffy and Zoro. There were so many reasons why, in any other circumstance, everyone else would have just left the thirteen year old pave her own fate and leave her alone to save their own skins.

These people were just so careless and stupid. They didn't know what they were facing, and besides, Cara didn't even really know the limits to their strength. They could have been total weaklings, for all she knew (she actually did think that they were weak, considering the fact that the captain and the first mate had lost to a fight to Sentorappu's puny guards). They most likely had no chance against people like Hakotsu and his army.

But even as no one answered her question, the question similar to what she had asked before, when the Straw Hat pirates first set out to rescue Misaki from her kidnapping, she already knew that she wasn't worthy of having a say, or literally saying a single thing to Misaki or the pirates. She was weak, incapable, and a coward. She made Misaki go out to the deathly island all by herself and didn't even try to think about what would happen to the other slaves that were still in Sentorappu. She didn't even know what was going on behind most of Sentorappu's experiments, or their true intentions. She didn't understand a single thing, and yet, even though she was older than the blue haired girl, Misaki, on the other hand, didn't hesitate to leave the Sunny, a rather convenient and safe place, to return to Sentorappu once again and face the troubles she'd faced for nine years of her life.

She was beyond shocked at the mannerisms of everyone surrounding her. Why was she unlike them, in the aspect of sacrificing and being selfless? Why was she so unwilling to go and save Misaki from killing herself? Why was she such a weak human being?

"You're not a weak person, Cara." Chopper patted her leg.

Cara looked up from her shriveled state. She'd just realized that she was crouched on the ground, her head looking down.

"How did you-"

"-You were mumbling something, and I happened to overhear." The reindeer responded quickly. "You're not weak, Cara." He repeated, slowly this time.

"Why do you think that way?" Cara sighed shakily. "It's not like I have any redeeming qualities. I'm just a person who cares about my own life. I'm selfish."

"You cared about Misaki. You helped her escape Sentorappu." Chopper reminded the woman. "That's a sacrifice Misaki will never forget. You essentially saved her life, and gave her hope, as she left that island."

"And, might I add, Cara-san!" Brook joined in, sitting down next to the white haired woman. "Misaki most likely understands all your concerns about returning to Sentorappu. She knows the dangers, but she dives in anyway to do what you did. You saved her life, and she feels the need to save someone else in return. We can all understand that, in our own ways. That's why we want to help."

Cara let out a heavy breath. "Do you really think you can get out of Sentorappu alive? With full determination?"

"No." Brook replied.

"W-What? Then-"

"Alas, I am a skeleton. I'm not alive, anyway."

Cara went red in annoyance.

"You don't have to overthink things, Cara," The doctor continued. "We're a lot stronger than you think. Misaki and Robin told you about us, right?"

"Yes, no matter what it is, our captain always finds a way to beat the enemy. It's almost magical." Brook added.

Robin also came around and sat herself next to the white haired woman and chuckled. "We understand the power of Celestial Dragons. Luffy, in fact, punched one before."

"R-Really?" Cara asked, bewildered.

"Really!" Chopper's adorable smile said it all.

Cara managed a pained, but at least, genuine, smile, before it disappeared rather quickly.

"...But I can't help but be a little anxious." Cara's doubtful tone made the reindeer's cheery mood fade a little. "These Celestial Dragons are a bit... different than what you're used to. They beat Luffy and Zoro easily and they're strange."

"Strange? In what way, may I ask?" The raven haired beauty questioned, glancing at the dark skinned woman.

"They're not... They don't cover themselves in luxury," Cara spoke slowly. "Rather, they think that knowledge is the most luxurious thing of them all. They feed themselves knowledge by performing experiments on slaves. But not only to become smarter, but also, to enhance their strength. I wouldn't be surprised if they had an inhuman army right now to defend themselves against us… Or maybe they had the army for the entire time."

"An inhuman army?" Chopper echoed with a hint of fear in his voice.

She continued after nodding. "I don't know what they want from Misaki, but to go this far just for a single slave? It shows that they probably won't stop at anything if it means getting her back. And, not to mention, their technology is crazy. You guys still use Den Den Mushis, right?" A nod from Robin confirmed what Cara just said. "They have holograms and invisible force fields without the powers of a Devil Fruit."

"Holograms?" Robin questioned, perplexed. The word was foreign to the world outside of Sentorappu.

"It's advanced technology… It's complicated stuff, but just goes to show how different they are from the rest of us. I don't think we stand a chance against them." The white haired woman stuttered out.

Robin faltered to bring a counterargument to the table for a while. But then, she responded to Cara with, "Well, we have Luffy."

"What about Luffy?" Cara asked skeptically.

"He has his rubber powers and he's immensely strong. You've never seen him in battle, so you don't know how serious he can get. His power is infinite." Robin smiled knowingly.

"And the Nobles might recognize Zoro from his bounty poster, but they have no idea why he's worth that much. He's a demon and always cuts down his enemies without fail." Robin's smile widened. "I'm sure he'd be worth more if he showed his full potential, but that can be said about a lot of the members of this crew."

"Nami can summon the weather with the blue staff you see attached to her waist," Robin pointed to the orange haired woman arguing with the rubber man about something irrelevant, "and she's one of the most intelligent people in the Grand Line, as mentioned before."

Cara, after hesitating a bit, mumbled a pathetic, "That's pretty amazing,"

"It is." Robin agreed. "Usopp, as you might already know, has his astounding sharpshooting skills, but he also has a few tricks up his sleeve and can defeat an entire army with a single seed from his gardening bag."

"That makes no sense," The other woman deadpanned.

"It will when you see him in battle." The bookworm replied simply. "Sanji may be a ladies man and an extraordinary chef, but his legs are comparable to Zoro's swords. He can walk on air and his feet actually light on fire when he's fighting his enemies.

"Chopper doesn't look like much, but he can bring down a high number of people with his own Devil Fruit power, the Hito Hito no mi, and transforms into a monster at will. Franky is a superb inventor and modified his own body to become a one man army- a killing machine. And Brook, as you could imagine, already frightens many with his outward appearance, but his music is tranquil and deadly."

"What about you?" Cara asked. "What do you bring to the group?"

"Me?" Robin asked. She crossed her arms together in an "X" position. Instantly, arms floated up from the grass in a patterned formation and the white haired woman yelped as she jumped back, falling to her butt.

"I ate the Hana Hana no mi, and I can conjure any of my body parts in different places. It may seem like a strange power to acquire, but I've found ways to make it useful."

Suddenly, a splash of water was heard near where Cara, Brook, and Chopper were sitting. The trio who were on the ship closest to the noise simultaneously walked up and looked over the rails of the Sunny. There, Usopp and Sanji were in a mini submarine that was built by Franky, and it was bobbing up and down in the water.

"Hey, you guys! We spotted Misaki! She's a while away, but we can catch up to her if we do a Coup de Burst!" Sanji shouted to the three, and Chopper and Brook nodded while responded with their own noises of agreement.

"Let's go get Franky!" Chopper yelled.

"Ah! Wa-Wait, tell him she's going southwest!" Usopp added quickly before he could forget.

"Idiot, wasn't it southeast!?" The cook sitting next to the sniper in the small vehicle lightly punched the arm of the latter, who winced in pain.

"No, it's southwest!"

"Oh wait, you're right," The blond said after glancing down at what seemed to be a compass built into the submarine. The carefree attitude they had, even when they were rowing their boat into a perilous situation, certainly didn't assure Cara and bring comfort to her troubled heart and mind.

But it did, however, give her hope. It gave her hope that these people knew what they were doing. Hopefully, of course.

Luffy nodded, still sitting atop the crow's nest, positive energy and determination emitting out of his entire body. "Let's go kick some celestial ass!"

* * *

 **Hey hey you you I think that you should review**


	15. Chapter 15: Hell Of A Truth

**Chapter 15: Hell Of A Truth**

* * *

 **another raw chapter yay**

 **So, most of this chapter takes place before the last chapter :)**

* * *

Misaki was traveling through the water. Her hair was flowing behind her, magically staying untangled. The action of floating- well, rather, _zooming_ would be a better word to describe it- in the deep sea was so incredible and a thousand sensations were twirling through the gaps of the girl's body.

But she had no time for it.

She had no interest in anything but getting to Sentorappu before it was too late.

Misaki could only think about the people who she had put into danger the moment she stepped out of Sentorappu Island. She had promised every slave there that she would come back for them the moment she was free, which didn't make sense at the time, but she knew what she meant. Misaki set her mind, in the past, to rescue her friends and even the people she didn't know, and bring justice to those who were in control, as soon as possible. But she didn't exactly do that. She wasted her time with the Straw Hat pirates, thinking that in order to be ready to take down Sentorappu as a trading island, she had to train with Zoro and get stronger. But in reality, she was ready all along.

She just didn't know it.

A memory, still fresh in her head as it was a memory from not too long ago, came flashing right at her as she was making her way to the dreaded island.

* * *

 _Approximately eight hours ago, in a celestial barge belonging to the Gratius Family_

* * *

Diamonds dangling from a chandelier attached to the ceiling clinked together in oddly satisfying intervals, making soft sounds that attributed to the moments of silence during Misaki and Rekatsu's private conversations.

"Do you believe in gods?" Rekatsu's rather monotone voice read off the hologram projected in front of him.

Misaki was silent, her eyes blown wide. She was confused about the question, but her gut told her that something was going to happen. Something big. Maybe a revelation? She didn't know, and it killed her.

"There are, in fact, gods, in this world. It all started with one person. And his name was Prowress." Rekatsu continued, but then, in a different, more light tone, he looked up from the hologram and turned to Misaki, adding, "Oh, by the way, we don't know if Prowress was a male or female, but we're just using male pronouns for now."

"Get on with it," Misaki said, gritting her teeth.

"Before Prowress passed away, he also passed his power down to five different individuals of the earth, labelling them as gods to differentiate them from human beings. Prowress deems that a second will not pass on this planet where there are more than five gods, or less than five gods. When one of the gods dies, he or she will be replaced immediately with a newborn baby."

"You're delusional… and a sociopath, if you think I'm falling for any of this," Misaki stated promptly.

"Oh, no, it's real. It's all real. We have proof." Rekatsu took one strange look at Misaki and sighed. "...Just keep listening."

The Celestial Dragon continued, "Oh, here's my favorite part. The Gratius Family discovered the first proven-to-be-true goddess." He read, "The first was a woman with an indescribable beauty. She was intelligent and glowed when she walked. The second the Noble's wife gave birth to a son, the woman was killed. It was timed so perfectly. However, he was not blessed with any power.

'Why didn't Prowress choose me?' The child cried out when he'd learned of the story.

'We do not know. We will know if we learn more about these people and Prowress, as well.' His father answered with a grim expression.

Trial after trial, and generation after generation, futile attempts were made and all went to dust. But the family that expanded into a brilliantly structured superpower of the Grand Line never gave up on the idea that they could be granted the gift that would turn themselves into gods. After all these efforts, they acknowledged the fact that they were the same as humans without Prowress's powers that they so desperately desired, and so, they sneered upon their relatives and isolated themselves in an island called Sentorppu. And… uhh… yada, yada… blah, blah, blah…" Rekatsu continued to read with no emotion in his voice, as if he'd been told the story countless amounts of times, which he probably had. Misaki clenched her fists underneath the table. The dress she was wearing felt uncomfortable and itchy all of a sudden.

"Oh, I guess I'll start here," Rekatsu, a moment after sipping his drink he'd left on the dinner table, pointed at a portion of the writing. "Even the Nobles didn't know who he- Prowress, they were referring to, by the way-" The Noble clarified for Misaki, but she didn't respond, so he continued where he left off seconds after.

Even the Nobles didn't know who he was, and they may never find out. Maybe he was a human being on the Grand Line who thought the idea of giving certain people a grand amount of power would have been an amusing idea. Maybe he did what he did with a purpose, but if that was the case, he should have told someone about that reason. Was the reason good? Or did Prowress use his power for evil?"

Rekatsu took a deep breath in and clapped his hand over the device that created the hologram with the writing. Instantly, the hologram disappeared and the boy smiled cheekily. "That was a mouthful. Aren't I the best narrator ever?"

"What did all of that even mean?" Misaki interrogated angrily. "What does this have to do with me?"

"Calm down, Misaki." Rekatsu responded. He sounded like he was trying to soothe a crying toddler, and that pissed her off. "I'll explain it all to you, but you're smart, right? Surely you know what I'm hinting at."

"No, I have no clue. I'm still wondering when this proof of yours is going to show up." The thirteen year old girl answered snarkily.

"Proof?" The dark haired boy perked up, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Yeah, Proof that lets me know that this bullshit fairytale is real." Misaki spat out.

"Why must you be so feisty when you're around me?" Rekatsu questioned. "I think, if you were a bit less resentful of me, you'd be able to understand what I just informed you. And besides the proof in question is already here."

"Where?" The girl challenged.

"Misaki, the proof is you."

The blue haired girl stared into Rekatsu's eyes as he looked right back. He was still grinning, but it didn't look like he was joking around, either.

"Me?" Misaki laughed scornfully in her mind. "Oh, I get it now. You're delusional."

"No, really! You _..._ are a _god_." Rekatsu substantiated. "Well, I guess it would be 'god' with a lowercase 'g,' since there are five existing right this moment, and you're not exactly all-powerful. And I guess you'd be a 'goddess,' since you-"

"I'm sorry, but I want to laugh at you right now," Misaki interrupted, venom dripping from her words. "You're spouting nonsense because _I'm not a god._ I'm not a goddess. I'm _am_ sane, unlike you, obviously."

"Think about it for a minute, Misaki. Haven't you ever thought you were a bit different than everyone else? How you magically survived the shipwreck and stayed underwater for who knows how long?"

"How do you know about that?" Misaki asked, her face becoming pale.

"I know that the ship carrying you when you first escaped faced a storm, and we estimated that a normal person who sank into the water would have been dead." Rekatsu answered simply. "I mean, it's our ship, Misaki. What did you expect?"

"That doesn't mean-" Misaki began, but she was interrupted.

"-I'm not finished. Remember, before, when you were on Crystallized Island. What did I tell you? We treated you differently because you're special. You're different. Misaki, you got away with things that normal slaves would be sentenced to death for. You were able to look at my father in the eyes without getting skinned alive. You were able to push me away when most higher ranked prostitute girls would be killed if they'd done that to someone like me." He smiled kindly, but there was so much evil behind his facade. "Why do you think that is?"

"I… " The blue haired girl tried to think of an answer, but she was stuck. Why? Why was she different? "I… I don't know."

"Why are you so dangerously luxurious to look at? Your beauty could rival the infamous Boa Hancock of Kuja Island. Why are you so strong, compared to other normal people? You are faster and you work efficiently. You won every battle to the death that you entered during your time at Sentorappu Island. You seemed to have the highest scores on quizzes and games that we'd make you play, and you even received a perfect score on your ranking exam, remember?"

"It doesn't mean I'm a god." Misaki refused to let go of her belief. There was no way she was actually listening to what Rekatsu was saying, right? There was no way that the story he told was true. It was probably all an elaborate plot to make her believe that she was special, so that she could be brought back to Sentorappu as a slave once again.

But she was already on the ship and Rekatsu believed that there was no way she was going to escape. Why was he telling her all this if she was already secured to return to being a slave?

Misaki's head was spinning. Was she truly falling for Rekatsu's stories, even though it seemed like a complete lie? But all the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly. It explained everything- why she was able to survive the shipwreck, why she was isolated from the other slaves in Sentorappu in terms of treatment, why the people of Sentorappu were going such far lengths just for her, a mere escapee of their land.

"Here are a few videos of surveillance from before you were born." Rekatsu said, pulling up the holograms once again. The blue glow presented a blank screen, some visual buffering, and then the frozen image of a quaint cottage near the ocean. The house was atop a grassy hill, but then the green patch faded to sandy beaches. It seemed like a picture perfect place to be.

"Where is this?" Misaki asked, raising one of her eyebrows.

"The home of your parents," The black haired boy answered. "Oh, and by the way, I'm sorry for the... _horrible_ camera quality. It's been over a decade, but I still can't believe how far we've come,"

The video started playing, and the angle of the camera completely shifted to another place- Misaki assumed they were looking at the interior of the cottage. There was a woman on a light green sofa, her hair was a pale green and there was a warm smile on her face. The visible bump on her stomach indicated that she was pregnant and ready to give birth in at least a month or sooner.

Sitting next to the woman was a tall man with blue hair similar to Misaki's but with skin much darker than hers. His face was stern and almost worried, most likely about his wife, but at the same time, Misaki had this weird feeling that she'd seen his face somewhere before. He resembled someone she knew.

Seeing her parents for the first time, even in video, made Misaki a bit restless, more restless than before. She was also in disbelief, having a thought that these people could have been any normal citizens with their faces videotaped and staged as her parents.

"I know what you're thinking- maybe these people _aren't_ your parents." Rekatsu said. "But just watch the full video."

The blue haired girl wanted to speak up before the video continued. She didn't want to waste time if this thing was all fake. But when she looked back into the faces of the people in the video, she couldn't help but think that those people might actually be her mother and father. They resembled her, and their lifestyle, shown by the two frames she'd been exposed to, was similar to her own dream sequences of her family that she'd always envisioned when she had the chance to fantasize about what her normal life would have looked like. She felt like crying, but strangely, she didn't feel any tears fall from her eyes.

Just then, out of nowhere, the woman slouched over and the man got closer to her, realizing something, and then rushed out of the camera's scope. He came back a few moments later with a coat over his shirt and a blanket and backpack in his hands.

As he was helping the woman get up from the sofa, he was startled by a noise coming from outside the house. He decided to settle the woman, now visibly in pain, back down to sit for a while longer and left the camera's vision once again, probably to check what the noise was.

"What's going on?" Misaki asked Rekatsu as she took her eyes off the video. "What's happening?"

"Someone's breaking into their house while your mother's about to go into labor," Rekatsu purred. "Can you guess who?"

Misaki ignored the question and focused back on the video. The camera angle was the same and the woman was at the same place she was left, but she looked as if she were about to faint. Then, her face grew from an expression of suffering to absolute horror, and she screamed, trying to get up from the sofa to the direction the man went to. She could barely move without feeling excruciating pain every second at this point, so she couldn't get far until the man came back into the screen, this time with a bloody arm that was being held with his hand.

Misaki's eyes widened at the sudden change of mood, and glanced at Rekatsu, who was sipping from his chalice.

The man's lips moved as he gripped the woman's shoulders, turned around, and crouched down. She hurriedly got on his back and he carried her out of the camera frame.

Just then, the footage switched to a different location. Some place dark, gloomy, and all of a sudden, stormy. There was a run down shack in the bottom left corner of the frame that had a red cross painted sloppily on it to indicate a sorry excuse for a hospital. The footage shifted to what seemed to be the inside of the shack, as there were three people present: a doctor, a nurse, and the pregnant woman- Misaki's mother.

"Your father died on the doorsteps of the hospital. His body was taken to Sentorappu where he was analyzed a little more." Rekatsu leaned into his seat while motioning with his hand to procure a maid and whisper something into her ear.

The camera angle changed yet again to a side of the room that showed the faces of the doctor and Misaki's supposed mother much closer, and for the first time, the blue haired girl could see her mother. She was gorgeous and youthful, even while going through labor and in tears. Her hair was drenched in rain, and her skin was all messed up but generally unscathed. Misaki saw some similarities between herself and this woman- the slight wave in her hair and the ambiguity of her eyes, possibly. This wasn't her mother. But, she was. She was her mother and Misaki was just refusing to admit it. She wanted to believe that she wasn't watching her own mother on her deathbed while giving birth to her, and she definitely didn't want to admit that Rekatsu was telling the truth about everything. She knew he didn't have any reason to lie about all this- unless there was some sort of punchline she was missing- and she felt sicker in the stomach than ever before. It was like all the previous injuries the blue haired girl had gotten rid of were burning back onto her skin, one by one, the pain being magnified by a thousand.

"We don't have a lot of film for this tape, since it's all old tech and some of the recordings got ruined in the rain," The black haired boy pointed out. "That's why there are so many cuts. This is the final footage." He paused the video.

Misaki's hands were trembling underneath the table, sunken into the material of her dress. She really wanted to throw up and cry for a good hour. She felt so, very sick, even though she hadn't eaten anything. Watching the video made her ache for someone warm to embrace her, rub her skin in therapeutic circles and smooth over her hair, whispering that it would be alright. But nothing was alright. Not even a little. A billion things were going on in the girl's mind- the littlest things, like, 'What day is it?' or, 'What did I eat three weeks ago?' or, 'Is this all a lie?' and even, 'The window. I need to walk to that window.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by an abrupt clattering onto the table. Rekatsu dropped an embellished chest near the projection, making the vessel it was emerging from rattle.

"Want more proof, right?" He said.

Misaki didn't answer. She was sweating profusely and the plethora of thoughts raced back to her.

"Here's some old stuff from East Blue that we picked up. Some picture books, a baby blanket..." He rummaged through the container a little longer. "...Oh, and this."

The navy blue haired girl glanced at what Rekatsu was holding in his hand in curiosity. It looked like a broken snail transponder.

"This... This is some old... _old_ technology." He gripped it unenthusiastically. "It's a recorder. Your mom recorded her voice reading some classics to you. To Kill A Mockingbird. Romeo And Juliet? Her voice is like honey, honestly. No doubt in my mind that she was a goddess."

Misaki was nauseated already, she'd feel even worse if he started playing the recording. She hoped this was all a joke, that hopefully Hakotsu, or Bell, or some other douchebags she despised would pop out of nowhere and would throw a pie in her face and laugh at her. Hell, seeing those hateful, shameless people telling her that this was all just a twisted, everyday Sentorappu-style prank was better than this.

"Misaki, this is my favorite part!" A bright, feminine voice remarked. The voice thrived with energy and love, every ounce that a human being could possibly store in their hearts, and then some. The voice was familiar. It was like a distant call from years ago. But Misaki'd heard enough.

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs. They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." The voice paused. "Are you listening, Misaki?" Then, a small chuckle.

She didn't want to hear it anymore.

She wanted to disappear. To eradicate her existence off the face of the earth. Anything to stop the pain in her stomach and her heart.

"Do you remember the voice? You must have recalled it. You heard it so many times when you were in her stomach, didn't you?" The brunette asserted, smiling innocently and kindly, as if he were consoling her about a sudden grievance she was having trouble with.

"Anyway, let's finish the rest of the camera film. There's a little left. Just the ending."

The footage resumed and this time, it skipped over to the end of the birthing process. There was no sound- of course, the entire film had no sound, but somehow, Misaki could tell that all was silent when this footage was recorded. Something about the mood. The look on their faces. And the dead body on the hospital bed- the hollow face of Misaki's mother.

The doctor and nurse bowed their heads in silence, and the nurse mouthed something to the doctor. She held the baby close to her chest, as if she was scared that it would die, too. She gasped at something the doctor said, and her blond locks jolted in surprise.

"Lucy Inchairan, someone who came from an exotic island of the Grand Line. She was banished from her old home due to being framed for a crime she didn't commit, and she ended up working as a nurse-in-training for this doctor, Samuel. He used to be a part of a bigger hospital in another island of the East Blue, but my father pulled some strings to get him to work here." Rekatsu looked pleased. "We needed to get the best doctor to successfully deliver you so that there were no complications in our plan."

Misaki took one look at the baby, but she already knew she'd be looking at herself. Brown eyes and a small mouth. Nothing about the baby scream "special," but it was definitely her. She could feel it through the holographic screen.

"So, do you believe me?" Rekatsu smirked. He popped a maraschino cherry into his mouth and stood up to exit out of the video on the display. The look on the thirteen year old's face seemed to be enough to convince him that she did.

"Isn't it cool? Your father was shot three times, apparently- in his stomach, his arm, and his collarbone. He could run without too much trouble- _while_ carrying your mother, mind you- and lasted for a longer time than anyone could have expected." Rekatsu whistled in amazement. "He is the apex of a human form, along with your mother, who was able to give birth to you without any issues. We assume that she died because of you."

"No, it's because you killed my parents!" Misaki shouted. She couldn't believe she was arguing for this story that she now believed in, but she didn't care anymore. She couldn't stand listening to this deranged Noble feed himself the assurance that everything he did was law and just. She felt like vomiting every time he opened his mouth to speak so casually about the people he murdered. "You killed them."

"No, not that." Rekatsu stated, as if it was obvious.

The blue haired girl blinked. "Huh?"

Rekatsu switched his gaze back to the electric projection in front of him and made a few hand gestures to scroll through the document pulled up while humming nonchalantly. He gasped rather excitedly and glanced at Misaki. "Found it! There's a lot in this script, but it's really helpful."

He cleared his throat before reciting the words off the hologram. "...before Prowress passed away, he also passed his power down to five different individuals of the earth, labelling them as gods to differentiate them from human beings. Prowress deems that a second will not pass on this planet where there are more than five gods, or less than five gods. When one of the gods dies, he or she will be replaced immediately with a newborn baby." He whipped his hand downwards in front of the hologram and just like that, the mysterious image zapped back into the little black box it came from.

"So, technically, you killed your parents." Rekatsu said. "You killed your mother, probably, since the father was tested and shown to have died a few minutes before you were born. So he couldn't have been the sacrifice. It must have been you."

"You're only saying this so that you don't have to take the blame for killing-"

"Misaki, don't you get it?" Rekatsu interjected, his face looking exasperated and tired all of a sudden. "We did the physical actions of murdering your parents- we'll take credit for at least that. But everything else was up to fate. Fate is what helped you become who you are now- what molded you into the physical being of perfection and splendor. It helped you stay alive, and it kept you alive because you're not a normal human being. You're what every Celestial Dragon aspires to become- someone higher than a human being, someone who is stronger, smarter, more attractive, more developed in every single way. Someone like you.

"And fate is what made you a goddess. If you weren't a goddess, your mother might have survived the pregnancy- of course, she would have been killed by my father, since she knew too much already, and you'd most likely be dead, since you would have been no good to us. But fate was what killed your mother, along with your existence."

Misaki couldn't breathe. She couldn't feel whatever she was sitting on- she felt like she was swimming through a suffocating space, although what she saw in her direct field of vision was the same image as always.

"You... You're a monster," were the only words she could spit out while heaving thick breaths in and out.

"No, Misaki. _You're_ the monster. You're the one responsible for your parents' deaths, along with the deaths of another few thousand people. Every action you take, whatever path you chose to follow- it's all going to lead to glory for you, but the devastation of so many others." Rekatsu took a sip out of his chalice and stood up from his chair. "You know what responsibilities a god has, don't you? To oversee and rule the beings below them, and to judge everyone who deserves it." He smirked. "You're only doing what you were made to do. You _are_ a monster, Misaki, but that is your inevitable role in life. A monster, at least, to most people."

"...I-"

"-Not to me, of course. No." The raven haired Noble cut her off with a loud voice. "I love you too much to think of you as anything short of perfection. I want you, Misaki," He walked over to where she was sitting, frozen in fear and sickness, getting closer by the second. "And I will marry you. It is our destiny."

She wanted to get up after grabbing a nearby piece of cutlery and stab him in the gut. Anything to shut him up so she didn't have to listen to another word come out of his mouth.

"I'm not done, though!" Rekatsu exclaimed, as if he'd read her mind. "Here's the punchline. You have an older brother."

"A... A what?" Misaki cocked an eyebrow, trying to stay as still as possible so that he didn't notice her shivering. "I have a twin?"

"No, not a twin. I'm sure he's... around ten years older than you. Maybe less."

Rekatsu then perked up, like he'd remembered something important. He swiftly strided to his side of the dining table, sliding his hand across the smooth edge as he walked. The Noble placed a hand on the stationary black box that was resting on the table and proceeded to click a button on it. Instantly, the small contraption revealed the same hologram as before, and the black haired boy waved his hand around the glowing blue screen. Different pages whizzed by until Rekatsu stopped his hand motions at a page with nothing on it but a play button. He pressed on the center of the screen, and instead of an image or video, an audio recording started playing. It was a distant and garbled recording, but Misaki could make out the words, along with the person the voice it belonged to: her mother.

"- _child_..."

A different voice. "-... _have any oth-... children_ -"

"... _I… I had-...son… years ago_ -"

The recording resumed its original screen, with the blank background and the play button. Misaki's lips tightened as she bore holes into Rekatsu, whose face was highlighted with the glow of the hologram.

"... _Why_ is this relevant?" She interrogated harshly.

"Because... you know him." Rekatsu responded. "You've known him for a month now. Can you guess who he is?"

The girl gulped. It was one of the Straw Hats. Misaki's head was racing, and her heart was running a marathon, too. Who was it?

"Want a hint?"

The blue haired girl sent a glare at the older boy, who jumped slightly, but only smiled wider.

"Your parents were both originally from East Blue, and they frequently visited Shimotsuki Village, for their son at the time. They abandoned him after they felt like someone was constantly watching them to have a completely separate life on Fern Island in the Grand Line to conceive you." The Celestial Dragon said. "Your father's name is Hito, and your mother's name is Yuuka. After a small wedding in Shimotsuki, their shared forename became Roronoa.

"Your brother is Roronoa Zoro, that previous bounty hunter."

* * *

It was a suffocating bathroom. Even though it was bigger than the Sunny's library, the overly decorated walls and furnishings made Misaki feel uncomfortable and even more sick to her stomach. The blue dress she wore looked dirty and ragged, although she knew for sure it was in pristine condition. The air around her smelled putrid, reminding her of the years she spent inhaling the fumes of dead bodies and raging fires in the basement of Sentorappu.

The blue haired girl looked at herself in the mirror, splashing some more ice cold water on her face as the stream flowed down from the faucet into the glass sink.

Misaki had walked away after that last truth bomb, not caring whether he chased after her or not. She knew already that he thought she couldn't escape because of the shackles on her wrists, but she didn't even have the energy to do anything at this point. She just wanted to get out of this fancy, stuffy ship so that she could disappear off the face of the earth. A maid followed her down the halls, her footsteps so silent that the girl almost hadn't noticed she was even there. Misaki turned around after walking for a solid ten seconds and asked the maid where the bathroom was, which is how she ended up here.

'Zoro? My brother? He really tried it on this one.' Misaki stared at her reflection, as if it would respond to her with words of encouragement or agreement. Instead, the reflection was just her eyes of devastation and horror, actually worried that Rekatsu was right. Or maybe she was just scared that she was starting to believe his words.

'No. It's too much of a coincidence,' Misaki shook the thoughts of doubt away and splashed another layer of water onto her face. 'I fell into the hands of the Straw Hats. They could be part of the whole plan, for all I know. They could have been contacted after I was found, and they'd been keeping me safe so we landed on Crystalized Island and would be able to meet.'

The thirteen year old looked down at the sink with furrowed eyebrows. 'No... Then, Rekatsu would have known that restraints wouldn't work on me. The Straw Hats would have reported to him that I can't swim. And they wouldn't have fought with the guards back at Crystalized Island if they were working together... Then... what? Is it all pretense? Is it all an act so that I keep trusting them?'

A knock came at the door. "Miss? Is everything alright?" The voice belonged to the maid that followed her. "You've had the water running for ten minutes-"

"I'll be out!" Misaki half-shouted, and covered her mouth with her hand. She didn't mean to be that loud. "I'm... I'm sorry, I'll be out, just wait a little longer..."

The navy blue haired girl started to meld the water particles into her skin and let all of the excess water drip off her hair with her power. She reached for the door handle after turning off the water. The maid was outside, bowing her head with posture that was uncomfortable to even look at.

"Uhm..." Misaki felt uneasy to touch her, but the angle of the maid made it seem like it would be hard to get her attention in any other way.

"Yes, Miss."

"Could you take me to an exit? I'm feeling nauseous, being indoors." What a bullshit lie. The ship was structured in a way so that any rocking that was caused by the ocean outside turned into a raindrop of power. The ship hadn't felt like it was actually on water for the entire time Misaki was here.

"Of course, Miss." Well, it worked, nevertheless. Misaki guessed that everyone on board was already told that it was okay to put their guards down since the captive was powerless in her handcuffs and couldn't even swim. Fantastic.

The maid stood upright once again to start walking towards the opposite way of the dining room and then opened a nearby door for Misaki to exit through. The blue haired girl followed and could the ocean breeze swished past her cheeks.

"It's lovely weather, isn't it, Misaki?" Rekatsu, out of nowhere, placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and stared out at the horizon. Misaki felt herself tense up and accidentally gulped heavily, which the black haired boy definitely noticed.

"What, don't be afraid of me." The boy chuckled, almost like they were just having a casual chat as normal friends. They were _not_ friends. Misaki shoved him away, feeling herself shiver in fear, even though the air was warm.

"Don't touch me." She snapped, backing away. The maid had disappeared, and she and Rekatsu were the only two people out on the deck.

"Were you thinking of ways to escape? Don't you think an easier way out is to just listen to what I say, and then save your planning for later?" Rekatsu shrugged. "I wouldn't try to leave, if I were you. The wife of a Celestial Dragon in Sentorappu lives fabulously. We try to keep human values when it comes to things like love. I know that some of my uncles have more than ten wives, but my father only married one woman. I plan to do the same, but do I even have a choice?" He stepped closer to brush a hand to Misaki's cheek, sending another chill down her spine. "You're more than any girl I've ever met."

"I will never marry you, Rekatsu." The girl hissed. "I hate you more than anyone on this planet! I would rather die than marry you."

"You probably would. But you'd marry me if your friends were on the line, wouldn't you?" Rekatsu rummaged through the pocket of his pants and then pulled out the same device he used last time for the holograms. He whipped it upwards to show to Misaki and pressed a button. On the glowing screen was an image of all the pictures of the low class slaves in the children's section.

"No..." Misaki mumbled, her eyes growing wide at the thought of...

"We will get married. If you don't want these kids to suffer, of course."

Rekatsu looked like he was about to say something else, but Misaki didn't let him. Instead, she sent him to the ground with a sucker punch. He couldn't do anything for a few seconds due to the shock, so during that time frame, the blue haired girl also kicked him in the ribs, making him jump across the wooden deck of the ship. She kicked Rekatsu in the arms, face, and head a few times, and then some more for good measure, and when she knew that he was unconscious, she transformed into water so that the cuff around her neck would slide off and clatter to the ground. Turning back to flesh, Misaki ran inside the ship. Just then, she was pulled by a woman's tight grip. "Miss!"

It was the same maid who led her outside. Misaki was about to shake the maid off and knock her out, too, but she was pulled in closer for the woman to whisper something shocking into her ear.

"Run to the left, the door that you see in front of you is the door to the cargo hold downstairs. Go there to sink the ship and leave in one of the escape boats." The maid pushed her away. "Go!"

Misaki bowed to her in thanks and ran to where the maid told her to go.

* * *

 **anyone think i should give this story up because of all the complicated shit that's going down?**

 **okay to be honest, once Zoro's real family gets revealed, everything about this story becomes shit for me, so I might alter the whole thing about Misaki being Zoro's sister anyway. If anyone wants to know more about how I really planned this whole thing out, ask me in reviews or something because it took me a while to decide on how everything would fit and all- I even did some research about Zoro's name and the origins and shit :)))**

 **anyway review and have a wonderful day, you wonderful child(ren)**

 **UPDATE WHEN I POSTED THIS ON JANUARY 25, 2020: I just wanted to publish this because I had it in drafts and wanted to give anyone who was still reading a chapter to look at that I had finished writing (but I kind of neglected to edit it sorry)... it's been a while, I've been coming on this site sporadically to edit the cringey parts of my chapters and then update them, but this is an actual chapter update haha. I'll probably edit it if I get the motivation to finish my ch.16-20 drafts. Bye for now and keep watching/reading One Piece until we get to the actual ending where Luffy discovers the true treasure is actually friéndship.**


End file.
